Real Life series
by marcelb
Summary: This series tells the adventures of Joan Crandon. Adventures that seem very familiar
1. Episode 1: Premiere

**Series:** Real Life  
**Episode:** 1 - _Premiere_  
**Timeline:** Between _Bad Timing_ and _the Peacekeeper Wars_  
**Disclaimer:** The familiar stuff _so_ doesn't belong to me. Nope, it all belongs to Henson and the creators of Farscape. Trust me, I don't get a penny from this, only the satisfaction of having written something that others like to read (or so I hope).  
**Ramblings:** The series you're about to read can be blamed on two people, neither of them are me:1: imloco2. Once upon a time she wrote _The truth is out there_. That's what gave me the idea for this series. Since I wasn't writing at that time, I put out a challenge back then. There was interest, but none of the writers started it.  
2: goblin. She wrote a fic called _Normal_ a few months before I began this series. In that fic was a line that made me remember the challenge I'd put out months before. I was already a writer then, so I decided to take it upon myself to get this thing going.

* * *

"You sure 'bout this, Dot?"

The slightly Asian-looking woman nodded. "Yeah, I checked the math three times. The readings change a little every day, but only for an hour or so. They're back to normal now." She shrugged. "Even so, the differences are so minimal they couldn't possibly interfere with the experiment."

Joan looked thoughtfully at her best friend, which they had been ever since, well, before middle school really. If Dot said things were fine, Joan was sure she had put a lot of thought and calculation into it before giving the okay. "Right, so we're still on for tomorrow?"

Dorothy shrugged again. "I don't see why not. If we detect the irregularities again tomorrow, we could just postpone it for an hour or so, until they get back to normal, just to be safe. But I still think we could perform the experiment, regardless of the deviations." She glanced sideways at her friend. "You're nervous, aren't you?"

Joan smiled slightly. "Terrified's more like it."

"Why? We've run countless simulations and even tested it on several occasions."

"Yeah, but simulations aren't the real thing. The tests were just basic operations, nothing similar to the scale we're gonna do it on tomorrow." Joan shook her head. "I'm just scared it'll all go pear-shaped tomorrow, making us look like a couple of dreamers."

"Oh, come on, Joan. We've prepared for this for years. Besides, even if something were to go wrong, that wouldn't necessarily mean we're wrong about this hypothesis. It just means we made an error somewhere along the line and need to figure it out."

"Yeah, but it'll go wrong on national television. What am I saying? It'll be broadcast around the globe, for crying out loud!"

"I admit I'd be a lot happier if your mother hadn't arranged the world press to be present for this experiment."

"Mom just wanted the world to see her daughter is just as smart as she is."

"I'd say even smarter."

Joan and Dot turned around.

"Jean," Dorothy acknowledged the presence of Joan's mother.

"Mom, I could never be smarter than you."

Jean smiled. "Oh, yes, you could. No, strike that: you are." She held up a newspaper. "You've seen this?"

Joan took the newspaper from her to read the headline displayed prominently on the front page and snorted at the sub-title '_How Joan R. Crandon__W__ill __S__urpass __H__er __M__other_'. "Well, that's kinda premature, isn't it? We haven't even proven it can be done on any large scale."

Jean shook her head. "Why do you keep pretending you're not better than me?"

"Oh, come on, Mom, you know as well as I do that coming up with an idea doesn't mean squat in this field."

"You've tested it already. Not a simulation, but a real test."

"Yeah, it worked for a whole yard. Woohoo!"

"Everything ever invented started with a small-scale test before ever trying to get a working prototype."

Joan sighed. "Yeah, yeah. But did you have to invite the press?"

Jean nodded. "Yes, because I'm proud of my daughter's achievement." She turned to Dot. "Together with her best friend, of course."

Joan knew she was starting to whine. "But, Mom, if something goes wrong, the whole world will see me fail."

"There's no shame in trying something new and failing. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

"I dunno, I wouldn't come off the ground, I'm only able to hover barely over a yard, I crash because something goes wrong." She paused. "I get sucked through a wormhole."

"Hey, sometimes good things can come from that."

Joan and Dot whirled around, their mouths gaping.

Jean smiled. "Oh, I forgot. I have a surprise for both of you."

Joan turned to her mother. "Y-you invited Ben Browder?"

Jean shrugged. "Well, you two've been talking about him and that TV-show even more than about this experiment. A mutual friend owed me a favor and Mr. Browder accepted."

Ben was shaking Joan's hand, but said to Jean. "Please, call me Ben. Mr. Browder makes me feel old."

Dorothy was next to shake his hand, still slack-jawed. Joan gathered her wits more quickly. "Are the rumors true? There's gonna be a mini? I hope so, 'cause Bad Timing is the worst ending a TV-show could ever have. And a lot of fans have really done hard work to get it back. And...maybe I should shut up and let you answer."

Ben smiled. "Well, I can't really give an answer. So, magnetic propulsion, huh?"

Joan nodded. "Yeah, it's going to be the best way to explore our solar system. It's cheap and relatively fast. Still, it'd take at least three months to travel to the nearest star, but that's way shorter than it would take now."

Ben nodded. "And tomorrow's test is to see if it's viable?"

Dorothy jumped in. "More or less. Tomorrow we'll test basic maneuverability in an area of three square miles, just a hundred feet above the ground. If that works, we're going to test how high we can go. If those tests are completed, other tests will be scheduled to try to get into orbit, but we'll need to build a space-worthy vessel first."

"And a bigger engine, I suppose."

Dot shook her head. "No, that's not needed. The magnetic propulsion engine is unlimited in the mass it can propel. The biggest part of the engine on this puppy is the power generator. The actual engine part is hardly bigger than ten by ten inches."

Ben nodded, impressed and clearly interested. "And these two tests tomorrow are manned tests? Who's going to be the pilot?"

"_I_ am. Hence my nervousness."

Ben laughed. "I see. So, you're a pilot?"

Joan nodded. "Yeah, got my license a few years back. Technically, I shouldn't be allowed to fly this thing, but I got special approval, since Dot and I designed it, and I know all there is to know about flying it."

Dorothy held out a piece of paper and a pen. "Can I get an autograph?"

Ben smiled. "Sure." He placed his autograph on the piece of paper and the one Joan had quickly grabbed from a nearby desk. "Well, ladies, I've gotta go." He turned to Joan. "And remember, just in case a wormhole sucks you through, the little toad will spit on you."

Joan and Dorothy giggled.

* * *

"Okay, Joan, everything is at optimum level; magnetic levels are stable, the oscillator has a steady frequency. You're good to go."

"Copy that. Powering up electro-magnets now. All indicators are green. Throttling up... Everything still in the greens. Reached testing altitude."

"Everything looks great so far, Joan. Alright, let's see if you can fly in a nice circular path."

"Understood, attempting circular flight path." Joan steered the vehicle around the testing area, making sure to stay well within the defined testing area. "How about that, Dot?"

Dorothy smiled. "Looked great, but then again, this thing almost flies itself."

Joan laughed. "I admit it's a good thing the computer takes care of balancing this thing, but I still need to steer it in the direction I need to go."

"Yeah, that really requires advanced piloting skills."

"Joan," Jean interrupted the banter, "how about you show what this bird can do?"

Joan nodded, already feeling very confident about the test. "Don't worry, Mom. My flying lessons will pay off in a minute."

The next half-hour was spent executing various maneuvers that many a helicopter pilot would be envious of, both in terms of speed as well as maneuverability.

"How about an altitude test?"

"Alright, Dot. We got clearance for this area at this time?"

"Yeah, this is a no-fly zone for the upcoming hour." Dorothy looked at the readings, a frown forming. "Joan, maybe you better set this thing down first."

"...di.. sa... Dot?"

"Joan, land this thing, now!"

Jean looked over at Dorothy. "What's wrong?"

Dorothy pointed at several monitors. "The irregularities are back, but many times higher than usual. It might be a solar flare, but we were informed none would occur. Anyway, it's messing with the magnetic propulsion unit."

"Do..., ...sing pow... Eme... ...ing."

Jean looked out the window to see what her daughter was doing. "What the hell is that?!" She pointed to just below the vehicle her daughter was in.

Dorothy took a peek. "It can't be... No, J., don't go down now!" She pressed the button on her microphone again. "Joan! Pull up! There's what looks like a wormhole below you! Pull up, pull up!"

To everyone's dismay, Joan continued her descent back to the ground, until she finally vanished into the phenomenon.

* * *

A man was observing the experiment from afar. "I hope you learned from the show. Good luck, Joan. You're going to need it."

* * *

Joan realized something was seriously wrong as soon as she noticed she was surrounded by blue energy. She activated her microphone. "Dot! What's going on?" She paused shortly. "I'm not sure if you can hear me, but I seem to be surrounded by a blue-white wall of energy." She went over her instrumentation. "All readings are back in the greens, except for altitude. Air pressure is also dropping, but still within tolerance."

Joan looked back outside. "I can see an opening." She pushed the controls. "Flying towards it." She paused. "Well, whatever this is, the propulsion unit still functions properly. I'm almost out." She steered the vehicle a little to the side. "Here I am!"

Joan looked at her surroundings. "Question is, where is 'here'?" She noticed a group of air-borne vehicles she didn't recognize coming her way. She quickly maneuvered herself out of their flight path and tried to determine where they were going. "Damn, that's big."

Up ahead, a large structure was visible. It didn't resemble anything she'd ever seen, except that it was definitely the largest one. Maybe not in height, but in width and length it was bigger than anything she'd ever seen. It had no angular walls, just a smooth, rounded surface all around.

The building could easily harbor a dozen commercial airlines and that would only fill up the entire width of the structure. Joan estimated it would take twenty or thirty times that to completely fill up even one level, and there were probably two dozen levels.

All around her, Joan noticed more of the vehicles she'd spotted before. It took her a few moments to realize they had spotted her as well, and they didn't seem to have any friendly intentions toward her. A shot was fired at her, too close for comfort, and she quickly dropped her altitude, allowing the next shot to pass overhead, directly hitting one of the other ships which crashed down as a result.

Staying out in the open would surely get her killed and Joan took the only option available to her: head for that large building and hope for a way in. Once inside, she'd no longer be in the open and perhaps she could find a good hiding spot. She increased thrust to the maximum she dared use under these circumstances, piloting directly towards the structure that dominated her view.

As she approached it, she spotted an opening that appeared large enough for her to fly through. Once she was even closer, it became clear it was already closing. Still open wide enough for her, but her pursuers would be unlikely to follow, given the distance they still needed to fly and the speed at which the... doors?... were closing.

"Damn! Dead end!" Joan exclaimed once she got inside.

She decided she needed to get out of this experimental vehicle and hope to find a way further into the structure by foot. As she landed, she realized none of her pursuers had made it in and the entrance was closed. That meant she'd have some time before anyone would find a way in. At least, she hoped she would. She had no idea if a shot like she had managed to avoid earlier could actually penetrate that big door.

Not waiting to find out, she quickly made her way out of her ship in search of a way further in. She slowly made her way to one of the walls until she heard a sound coming from the other side of the room. She had barely turned in that direction when she heard several noises. One of them came from two little sea-green devices, looking a lot like an overgrown beetle. She frowned, thinking there was something else it reminded her of, but she didn't spend much time on it when she saw the source of the other noises.

These noises were a cross between animal grunts and humming and the source was a big... alien? _What the frell is going on here?_ Joan thought to herself. The big alien kept talking, or maybe asking something. "Look, I have no clue what you are saying, but believe me when I say that I'm harmless to you."

The alien responded by saying something, looking up slightly. Immediately a response came and Joan was so focused on finding the source she didn't notice one of the two devices rolling over to her. She did feel the sting in her left ankle and once again her focus shifted to the device, her thought trying to place the familiarity of them.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the alien started talking again. "...on the ground!"

Joan looked down. "What's on the ground?" Then she looked up, even more confused. "Why did I understand the last part of what you said?"

"Throw your weapons on the ground!"

"Weapons? I don't have any weapons."

"A Peacekeeper without weapons? Highly unlikely."

_Peacekeepers? This can't be true. I'm dreaming. Yeah, that's it. This is a dream. A really vivid, bad dream._

The alien apparently took her silence as not wanting to cooperate and she - the voice sounded female - walked in her direction.

Joan raised her hand as she backed up, eventually bumping against her ship. She turned around, deciding that hiding in her ship was the way to go. She had barely taken a step when she felt something wet hit her neck. A second later her world went black.

* * *

Joan groaned when she awoke. "Definitely a hangover," she muttered. Opting to keep her eyes closed for the moment, she tried to determine what she had done the night before. She frowned as she realized she had had at most two glasses of wine. After all, this was to be the big day, and she didn't want to have to deal with a hangover in addition to all the other crap.

So, how come she had this massive headache? Come to think of it, why was she lying on a hard, cold floor? Her eyes flew open the moment she realized she was also very naked in a cold environment. Blinking against the sudden onslaught of light, she looked around to find her clothes.

She found them right next to her and quickly started to put them on. Once again confusion entered her brain when she noticed she was putting on her pilot's uniform. Accustomed to the light, she looked around and finally took note she wasn't in her own apartment.

"Oh, you're awake."

Joan turned towards the source of the sudden interruption. She walked toward the door. Well, it looked more like a grating of some sort. On the other side, a frog-like figure was hovering on a small chair. "God, the nightmare continues," she muttered. Louder, she addressed the lady frog. "Who the hell are you and what am I doing here?" Best defense still being an offense and all.

"I'm Domina Rohnn the Fifteenth, ruler of over seven billion loyal subjects. As to why you are here: the others decided to take you aboard to determine if you could help in our return to freedom. Since you were... uncooperative they had no choice but to knock you out. Don't worry; I'll protect you now and you can return the favor at a later time."

Joan snorted. "You're gonna protect me from that big-ass thing that knocked me out earlier? Riiight." _The little toad will spit on you._ Joan moved out of the way as the remembered message entered her mind, just in time to avoid the mucus being thrust in her direction. "Oh, this has _got_ to be a nightmare. This just can _not_ be real."

Joan looked around the cell to assure herself this was not similar to what she thought was going on. Unfortunately, she was proven wrong. At the other side of the cell, a figure was lying on the floor, seemingly unconscious.

"We can no more trust you than we can trust that!"

"...than we can trust that," Joan silently completed the sentence with Rohnn. Realizing that genders apparently were swapped in comparison to her favorite show, the person still on the floor was likely to be a male, despite the braid. He was facing the other direction, but he didn't have a helmet on.

"That Peacekeeper tech is our bargaining chip," Rohnn informed her.

A tech? Now, that could be good thing. At least he wasn't a seasoned soldier.

"His usefulness may be limited, though. He was recently demoted from his position as pilot and special commando."

Ooo-kay, maybe this could still be a problem. As the Peacekeeper got up, Joan decided it would be a bad idea to go introduce herself with a handshake. "You can stay where you are, _tech_."

Surprisingly, he did what she told him. "Off... Senior Tech Aeron Star, Deron regiment." He paused as he surveyed her. "Name, rank and regiment."

Joan shook her head slightly. "Some things never change," she muttered. "I'm not a Peacekeeper. I wasn't even born in this part of the galaxy."

"No, our scans revealed you are not even a Seforean, even though you look just like one. You have a number of unknown bacteria in your system."

Joan turned to glance at the newcomer; blue and bald, just as she expected. She responded at the same time as the plant-man continued. "Eat what?"

"It's time to eat."

Joan mentally kicked herself. She shouldn't show any sign of foreknowledge; at least not until they trusted her. Luckily, none of them seemed to have noticed the slip-up. Silently she followed the others, still trying to convince herself it was just a bad dream.

* * *

Numerous little facts were similar, but just as many were differing. The longer Joan spent time here, the more convinced she became that it wasn't a dream, if only for the weirdness she'd already seen or heard the others talk about.

But the escape with this 'Aaron Stare' - which, Joan was quite sure, would probably be spelled as Aeron Star – was more-or-less going the way she expected it would. Idly she wondered if the pilot on the ship that got destroyed when she dodged that first shot was somehow related to Aeron's captain; perhaps sisters?

Regardless of the similarities, it was clear genders were swapped. Well, except for this ship and the pilot. Surprisingly, even the names hadn't changed in this case. This was Moya, a Leviathan. She had too much mass for her propulsion units to lift her off, hence they were still stranded on the planet.

Joan debated whether she should just walk away, leaving Aeron to escape alone. It may prevent him from getting expelled from their ranks. Then again, chances were he would honestly tell his captain what had happened here, how much time he'd spent with her. No, she'd see this through, if only to find out to what degree she was living, or going to live, the life of a fictitious person.

And then there was the fact that Aeron looked familiar. She was sure she had seen his face before, but she couldn't place it.

Eventually they walked out of Moya, right into a group of Peacekeepers.

"Officer Star," one of the Peacekeepers said, nodding curtly. The expression on his face changed to a more menacing one. "Oh, sorry, you're just a tech now." He turned to Joan. "And who is this lovely lady?"

"That doesn't matter," a female voice interrupted. "Seize them both!"

Aeron snapped to attention. "Captain Brim, ma'am, though the aliens have escaped their prison cells, they are still contained inside. They have not yet procured any weapons and..."

"Silence!" Brim held up a hand and then turned her gaze toward Joan. "You have caused the death of my sister."

_I knew it!_ Joan thought to herself.

"For that you will be sentenced to the Living Death."

"Ma'am," Aeron ventured, "I feel compelled to point out..."

Brim turned a furiously toward Aeron. "_Tech_ Star, I specifically told you to be silent. You have already been demoted for insubordination under my command. Do not make me demote you any further."

Brim turned back to Joan. Before she could say anything, Aeron interrupted again. "But ma'am, this is important. You should..."

Brim turned back. "You keep repeating the same mistakes." She paused a bit. "Tech Star, how long have you been alone in the presence of those aliens?"

"Ma'am, I was knocked out by the gasses that were released immediately after they broke out. I've regained consciousness less than two arns ago."

"Two arns in the presence of aliens? That is certainly a long time. Long enough to deem you Irreversibly Contaminated."

"But ma'am, I was imprisoned..."

"Silence!"

Right at that moment, the alarm on Joan's wrist-watch went off.

Brim and the Peacekeepers turned to her, the latter all aiming their weapons at her. "What is that?" Brim asked.

Joan decided to use their ignorance of Earth devices to her advantage. "Impressive how small fission bombs can be in this day and age, don't you think?" Joan barely hid the smirk when the Peacekeepers and the good captain became quite a bit nervous. "Now, you can kill me, but how on Earth will you then prevent this thing from going off, taking all of you with it?"

Brim looked at the watch and then back at Joan. "Who the frell are you?"

"Dr. Joan Robyn Crandon, just like my mom, but you can call me Joan. In case you haven't caught on yet, I'm not a..." She turned to Aeron, "a Seforean?" She turned back at his confirming nod. "I'm a Human from the planet Earth. I got here by accident, and I was just minding my own business when someone shot at me."

Joan took a quick look at her watch. It'd stop its incessant beeping in less than thirty seconds. "I'm really sorry your sister got hit when I dodged that second shot, but I wasn't willing to get killed."

Joan looked at her watch again. "Now, if you'll excuse us, Aeron and I'll just go back inside Moya here. I'll end the countdown once we're safely inside." Without waiting for a reply she grabbed Aeron and tugged him back in the direction of the big ship.

Aeron halted her, looking back and forth between his captain and Joan.

Joan turned him toward her and looked him in the eyes. "If you stay here, you'll die. You know this. If you come with me, you'll live long and prosper. But choose now."

Aeron looked back over his shoulder one more time and then nodded at Joan and followed her back inside. The alarm stopped its beeping as the hatch was closing. Aeron gave a shocked look at Joan when the beeping stopped.

Joan looked back. "What?" When she saw him point at her watch she smiled. "This isn't a bomb. Earth is a backwater planet compared to what you guys have. This thing just tells time. The beeping is a warning to tell me it's a certain time. In this case it's a wake-up call." She grabbed his hand. "Come on, we got to get Moya off this damn planet and get the hell away from your pals outside."

Aeron followed. "But Moya's engines are not powerful enough to lift her off the ground."

"That, I can help with."

* * *

"That's preposterous!" V'Enda, the female counterpart of D'Argo, as Joan kept referring her as, exclaimed. "How can such a small, archaic... thing help lift Moya into space?"

"Magnetics," Joan replied, shrugging slightly. "What other options are there? Stay here on the ground? Those Peacekeepers will certainly find a way in, probably hurting Moya in the process."

Bohr, the plant-man looked at Joan. "What do you need?"

"For starters, the exact gravitational center of Moya, or as close to it as I can get my state-of-the-art magnetically-propelled ship. The area will need a solid ceiling and it must be able to take the full force of Moya's mass."

"Moya says that she knows the exact location you will need. One of the DRDs will show you the way."

"Great. The second thing I need is a good pilot." She looked at Aeron. "You'll need to manually control Moya and keep her balanced." She looked back at the actual clamshell-shaped display currently showing Pilot. "Moya does have manual control capability, right?"

"Yes, she has." At the same time they all saw the flight controls emerge from the floor.

"Right, I'll get to my ship. Pilot, have the DRD stand by there to guide me." Joan snatched up one of the comms badges and sprinted out of Command, only to skid to a halt just outside and turn back. "Uh, which way to my ship?"

* * *

Joan palmed the comms badge. "Alright, guys, I'm in place. Pilot, I'll lift Moya just a fraction, to see if it will work and it won't hurt Moya too much. Tell me the moment Moya no longer touches the ground, okay?"

"Very well, doctor."

Joan carefully piloted her ship toward the ceiling until she touched it. Slowly, she increased the force she put against it.

"It's working! Moya is now only touching the ground at her lowest point of the outer hull!"

"How's Moya doing, Pilot?"

"She can feel the stress at the point your ship is pushing her, but she thinks she can take it long enough for us to leave the atmosphere."

"Great! Let me know when the stress becomes too much, alright? Aeron, I'll be increasing the force and lift off completely. You'll need to balance Moya as best as you can. A slight tilt won't be a problem though."

"I think I can manage, Crandon."

_Ooh, testy little fellow, aren't you?_ Joan increased force again, in much greater increments, increasing the lift-off speed with it. Silently she thanked Dot's suggestion to use the strongest alloy for the entire ship and not just for the magnetic unit.

"Moya is already detecting the decrease of the planet's gravitational pull."

"How far are we, Pilot?"

"We'll be free of the atmosphere in five microts."

Joan counted down in her head, intent on giving Moya as much speed as possible, while making sure they wouldn't suddenly fly away completely out of control once they did leave the atmosphere. She decreased the force less than half a second before Pilot told them all the great news.

"We are free of the atmosphere. Moya is initiating starburst now."

* * *

Joan sat on her bed, writing in one of the logbooks she found on her ship. It should've been removed before she started the experiment, as it was only used to keep track of who had been doing what and when, but now she was relieved to have found it, along with a bunch of pens.

_Well, Dot, __M__om was right. It was a big success. And, even better, the magnetic propulsion unit can indeed propel any mass__, anywhere__. I think I'll go looking into __making__ this puppy __air-tight __so I can actually go outside of Moya in it. I think it'll be plenty fast with the current unit, but perhaps I need to get some of the local stuff in it._

_Because, as much oompf__ as__ the magnets put out, they are seriously slow in altering direction and speed. The top-speed of this baby, yeah, that's good enough for these parts (I think; haven't really been able to test it yet), but braking, accelerating and turning, that's not good enough._

_Hey, have I mentioned yet the ships' name is Moya? Or that she's in fact a living creature (and if you must know, she's of the Leviathan species)? Wanna guess at who's on this boat with me? You're very close. I got myself a little toad-lady (well, she spits – thank you__ Ben, for warning me – so lady might be __overstating the case__), a blue plant man, female wa__rrior with tentacles and a human-__looking alien guy._

_By now, you're probably wondering if just maybe Farscape wasn't entirely fiction. Well, I got to meet a Peacekeeper captain and she's mad at me 'cause I dodged a shot and her sister got hit instead. __And she was about to kill me and the human__-__looking guy when my wristwatch went off. I made them believe it was a fission bomb, so they let us go._

_But, yeah, I think Farscape isn't fiction. Names of people and species have changed and genders are swapped (all with the exception of ship and pilot), but other than that, it's pretty much identical.__ Right down to the point where we ended up in some unknown part of the universe._

_I __have__n't even have time to rest yet, because some PK equipment was broadcasting a signal and, you guessed it, we landed in a swamp on a planet. __And I screwed it up, because I'm not sure how to tell the others that I know what's going to happen. I kinda hoped I could make it without any of the locals detecting me, but that darn kid of the astronomer (a male, of course, but I didn't kiss him goodbye) saw me and called her father._

_Well, we got out, but tomorrow I think I'll go talk to the plant-guy (he's the most sane one of them, and le__ast__ likely to attack me mid-sentence). I wish that going to sleep will have me wake up in my own bed, back on Earth. But __I know better, I've been here long enough to know that_

_Talk to you later and I love ya._

Joan closed the book and put it under her pillow, along with the pen. As she went to sleep, she wondered just how much of John Crichton's life she was going to live, but most of all, how she could avoid all the trouble he had run into. A certain species with wormhole knowledge was high on that list. No need to attract the attention of the equivalent of Scorpius in this region of space. She'd rather be stuck here than getting that guy, or probably girl, after her ass. It was bad enough that Aeron's former captain would keep following them.


	2. Episode 2: Two for One

**Series:** Real Life  
**Episode:** 2 - _Two for One_  
**Timeline:** Between _Bad Timing_ and _the Peacekeeper Wars_  
**Disclaimer:** The familiar stuff _so_ doesn't belong to me. Nope, it all belongs to Henson and the creators of Farscape. Trust me, I don't get a penny from this, only the satisfaction of having written something that others like to read (or so I hope).

* * *

_Hey Dot, __M__om_

_Had an interesting day today.__ It started out with me being incredibly nervous. I still wasn't sure whether I should inform the others here about what I know, but I was leaning towards it. Bohr (I'm guessing on the spelling here, since I have no real idea about how his name should be spelled; this just looks good. By the way, he's the blue plant-man, a __Palian__) seemed the __safe__st__ choice and I had started to make my way towards his quarters._

_The closer I got, the harder it became to go through with it. I still felt there were a few good reasons to keep quiet. For one, I'm still the new kid on the block and the other kids don't seem to like me much. Secondly, this whole I'm-living-the-life-of-a-fictional-character __thing __might turn out to be just a coincidence and I'd come __off__ as a fool, not that__ that__would change__ the other's preconceptions__ about me__much__. But eventually I decided to follow through._

Joan tapped the wall next to Bohr's door. "Bohr? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Of course, Joan." He palmed the door open to let her in. "What's bothering you?"

Joan, after stepping in, started to have doubts again.

Apparently, Bohr noticed her hesitance. "Joan, you can tell me what's on your mind. Is it about something you don't understand or know how to use? That would be understandable."

Joan shook her head. "No, that's not it." She sighed. "Alright, better get this out now, before I completely chicken out." She looked Bohr in the eyes. "Am I right when I say you at one point killed your lover? To...to avenge the lives she ruined?"

Bohr kept quiet for a while, looking at Joan. "How...how did you know?"

Joan shrugged lightly. "Saw it on TV." She held out her hand to forestall the inevitable questions. "Please, let me explain." She started to pace. "On Earth, we have TV, a device to show images. Mostly it's used for entertainment."

Bohr nodded, apparently still following her explanation. Joan continued. "A few years back, a new TV show came on, called Farscape. It's a fictional show, about a Human astronaut and scientist getting sucked through a wormhole to end up in an unknown part of the galaxy on a living ship with escaped prisoners and a Peacekeeper that was expelled from their ranks because she stuck up for the Human."

Bohr seemed to understand where this was leading to. "Much like the situation you found yourself in."

Joan nodded and stopped pacing. "Exactly. That thing we went through on that planet, you know, the swamp landing? It has an uncanny resemblance to the second episode of that TV show. Only genders seem to have been swapped, and names changed."

Bohr seemed to contemplate this. "But you said this show was fictional."

John sighed. "Yeah. So either it wasn't, or I'm just dreaming...this." She gestured around the quarters.

"But how could someone make this show before it ever happened?"

"Wormholes. On the show, they showed that wormholes are not only used to travel through space over vast distances, but can also be used to travel through time, though that's considered extremely dangerous."

"So, you suspect someone you met, or perhaps are going to meet, here, returned to your past to warn you about what's going to happen?"

Joan nodded. "Yeah, but I'm not sure for what reasons."

"To prevent you, or perhaps all of us, from making mistakes?"

Joan sighed again. "Yeah, but the show clearly showed that messing with history is not a good idea. Still, I think we'd be able to prevent a few catastrophes from actually happening. The thing is, how am I gonna convince the others?"

Bohr smiled. "The same way you convinced me: tell them something about themselves that you couldn't possibly know about."

Joan snorted. "The only reason I could tell you is because you're probably the only one around here level-headed enough to not knock me out or kill me where I stand." She paused. "And I don't think they'd like the others to know their big secrets."

Bohr nodded. "Perhaps. But if you don't inform them _and_ give them proof, they might not follow your suggestions should you need to direct us away from possible catastrophes."

Joan sighed. "I know." She contemplated her options and sighed again. "Alright, let's gather the troops. I'll find a way to let them each know what secret I know about them without giving it away to the others."

_Needless to say, as easy as it was with Bohr, the harder it was with the others. I had decided to just tell them exactly what I thought was going on; if they needed __pro__of__ (which I figured would most certainly be the case), I'd whisper a secret of each of them into that __person__'__s__ ear. Dot will know what secrets I'm talking about. It turned out better than I expected._

_V'Enda__ (that would be __the __big warrior lady, D'Argo's counterpart.__ She's a __Toran__), of course, didn't believe a word I said. She was the first __who__ needed some __pro__of_

"So, that's how things are at the moment," Joan concluded.

V'Enda snorted. "Are we supposed to believe this dren?"

Joan smiled wistfully and muttered, "At least the curse words remained the same." She turned and walked to V'Enda.

V'Enda's eyes grew larger the more she heard Joan whisper in her ear. When Joan was finished she nodded. "Alright, I believe this. The first part you could've gathered from the Peacekeeper data stores, but no one knows about the second part."

Joan nodded. "Exactly." She looked over at Aeron. "Do I need to tell you what secret I know about you?"

Aeron nodded. "Yes, but I have nothing to hide."

Joan quirked an eyebrow. "Really?" Even though Aeron nodded, she went up to him and whispered in his ear.

Aeron gazed at her for a moment and then sighed. "Close to the truth."

"Joan came to me first and also told me something she couldn't know, that I doubt any of you know." Bohr looked around at the group. "If she does have information, it might help us greatly."

Joan nodded. "Well, let me see. We've done the premiere, next came 'I,E.T.', done that. Then came, uhm, the Drak!"

"What?"

Joan looked around. "I'm not sure when exactly, but at some point we're going to run into what looks like asteroid debris, but it's really a swarm of space living creatures. We use it as a shield to hide from a Peacekeeper scout ship. The Peacekeepers leave, 'cause they won't detect us, but next thing we know, the swarm enters Moya."

"So, we should prevent that," V'Enda stated.

"No, we should prevent killing them." At the incredulous looks, Joan looked around. "They just need a warm place to give birth." She looked at Aeron. "We should find you a cold place that is isolated from the rest of the ship. These beings need warmth; the warmer it is, the sooner they can get it over with. You don't wanna end up with the Living Death."

Aeron looked at her. "I take it you can regulate your core temperature?"

Joan nodded. "Yeah, one of the differences between your species and mine. Anyway, we'll have to deal with the Peacekeepers as well." Again, this statement was met with incredulous looks. "Don't look at me. I can only assume they'll spot us while we're battling the heat problem."

"But we'll not be trying to solve the heat problem, are we?" Rohnn reminded her.

Joan nodded. "True, but we'll still have to deal with 'em."

_We __spen__t__ maybe an hour coming up with a __plan and locating__ a room with it__s own A/C for Aeron. I figured it would be a while before it __would __actually start. I was wrong.__Aeron commed me within an hour._

"Lemme guess. A Peacekeeper vessel is searching and we're using the debris as a shield."

Aeron didn't look in her direction and just nodded. "Mm-hmm. Is this what we discussed?"

Joan sighed. "Yeah, I think so. We have some time, but you should head to the Falmor Chamber once the Peacekeepers leave."

Aeron nodded again, looking even more reluctant than before. "You call me the microt..."

Joan shook her head. "No, can't do that." She paused. "And you can stop glaring at me. Like I told before, it's going to get pretty hot out here, and you can't handle the heat. We're not gonna call you until it has cooled down again." She paused again. "Or when it's clear it's not gonna heat up." She pointed at the door. "Now, go."

Aeron sighed and stood up. As he walked out of Command he turned briefly to Joan. "You'd make a good Peacekeeper captain." He turned back. "You have the perfect arrogant, commanding voice for it."

Joan watched him leave, shaking her head. "I think I know how he got himself demoted," she muttered.

_We'd planned to have a talk with the __Drak__. Only one way that I knew of, __but __Rohnn__ wasn't cooperative. __V'Enda__ chose that moment to agree with the deposed ruler. T__hat meant I'd needed to be cloned (I preferred myself in this case, since I knew how to handle them)__, and hope I can explain to the clone about this situation__. So, I headed to the maintenance bay, since I believe that is where Aeryn got hit by the dart and she was the first. I didn't have to wait long._

"Ow!" Joan exclaimed as she was hit by the dart. Though she had anticipated it happening, she was still surprised by the sting. She threw the dart on the floor and moved away to give the bug the impression it was alone.

From a short distance she looked as the bug retrieved the little dart and a little later started to change shape. She walked towards her replica. "Can you talk?"

The replica looked surprised, but didn't respond.

Joan nodded. "Thought so. I'm going to assume you do understand me and have a way to communicate with your queen. You're aboard a living ship and she has a limit to the temperature she can handle. She will cooperate as much as she can but don't try to increase it beyond her comfort. We have isolated one compartment and kept it at a cool temperature. The room needs to stay at that temperature so don't mess with it. You're free to breed."

Joan turned around at the sound of footsteps. She saw it was Bohr, but he didn't appear to be entirely himself. "Did you hear what I said?"

Bohr responded, but in a different voice. "Yes, I understand. We will do this as quickly as possible and will attempt to keep the rise in temperature local to our breeding area. Thank you."

Joan nodded. "Sure, you're welcome."

"Joan? What am I doing here in the maintenance bay?"

Joan smiled. "It's alright, Bohr. The queen temporarily hijacked your body and mind so she could talk to me. She is grateful for our assistance and has promised to complete their cycle as swiftly as possible."

_The Peacekeepers didn't return and the __Drak__ (since they never told us what species they are, I'm using the Farscape name instead) were __nearing completion of __their cycle. Y__ou're probably thinking 'well Joan, that wasn't __really interesting.__'__ But wait! There's more. Deal with one problem correctly__ and efficiently__, and you get a second one for free!_

"Are you sure, Pilot?"

"Moya and I are certain, doctor."

Joan frowned, trying to figure out what was going on now.

"Is something wrong, Joan?"

Joan turned to Bohr. "Yeah. As I said, I expect Peacekeepers, not some unknown ship."

"A change in events? So soon?"

Joan nodded. "Yeah, that's bothering me, too. The thing is, I'm unsure what we're going to have to deal with."

"Doctor, it appears Moya has accidentally come into contact with the vessel, causing it to lose propulsion control. Moya insists we bring the vessel aboard and assist in repairs."

Joan's face cleared up. "Aha! Durka returns!" She turned to the others, all of them looking very confused. "Never mind, I know what this is. We're gonna get a new shipmate. He or she's a bit early, though."

V'Enda stepped closer to Joan. "Anything important we need to know?"

Joan looked at her. "Well, lemme think. Uhm, on the show Durka was a Peacekeeper captain of the most famous Peacekeeper vessel ever."

V'Enda nodded, as did Rohnn. "The Zelbinion," they said in unison.

Joan was surprised. "Really? Huh, another name that hasn't changed." She shook her head slightly. "Anyway, a race called the Nebari had gotten hold of him and 'Mind Cleansed' him."

Bohr interrupted. "Those Nebari, are they completely without color?"

Joan nodded. "Yeah."

Bohr also nodded. "Yes, the Botari are said to clear one's mind of any original thought, all for the 'Greater Good'."

Joan nodded again. "Exactly. So, on the show, Miss Congeniality's counterpart had a bone to pick with the neutered captain and created some kind of bomb. Since he got the proportions wrong, everyone survived. Unfortunately, it reverted the captain to his former bad-ass self and things went south pretty quickly after that."

"I'll be sure the double check the proportions," Rohnn grinned.

V'Enda turned to Rohnn. "_I'll_ make sure you won't get your tiny hands on any of the ingredients."

Bohr looked at Joan. "So, how are we going to deal with this?"

Joan shrugged. "Play along at first, just to see if the facts check up. After that, it's just a matter of convincing the guardian and neutered captain to leave the prisoner behind and leave Moya. I'm pretty sure the good captain will have no issues leaving the heated Moya but the, uhm, Botari?" At Bohr's nod, Joan continued, "he or she might be a problem."

_Because of__ this new development, I completely forgot about our crew member in solitary confinement. Later, I learned from Pilot that he'd been extremely restless.__ Apparently, he'd gotten angry too when he learned about Moya's insistence on bringing our new visitors aboard.__ The idiot had insisted on being let out of the refrigerator imm__ediately and come to our, at that__ point in time__unneeded rescue__. Pilot kindly informed him he wouldn't last long in our super-heated home._

_Anyway, __Durka__ turned out to be a woman called __Dinta__, or so I was informed by __V'Enda__ and __Rohnn__. Turns out she was indeed aboard the __Botari__ ship. The __Drak__ had left the hangar and maintenance bays at a lower temperature; still to__o__hot__ for __Seforan__ comfort, but not __so__ hot as to induce Heat Delirium on the spot._

"How is it you can stand this heat?"

Joan smiled at the woman in front of her. "Like all other Peacekeepers, we've been genetically altered so we can handle higher temperatures better." No need to inform them of the fact that she's a completely different species. "Perhaps you should remain inside your vessel."

"Perhaps I should." She turned to her companion. "Will you be able to handle our prisoner on your own?"

He nodded. "Yes, that will be no problem."

The prisoner turned to Joan. "Please, help me."

"Remain silent, Nerri."

_I'm not kidding here, Dot. Our __latest__ addition __to this happy, dysfunctional family __is actually called __Nerri__. I remember thinking that this guy probably has a sister called Chiana, leading the __Botari__resistence__. I refused to follow the original story as portrayed in Farscape, knowing exactly what the 'crime' was and not wanting to get the poor guy zapped for talking. Certain events, however, appear to be unavoidable. Or maybe __V'Enda__ really was curious..._

"What's his crime?"

"They won't tell you, 'cause they're embarrassed. You wouldn't consider it a crime."

Joan was unsure of what to do. If this Nerri guy kept talking, he'd get zapped by the Botari guardian, who's name she still didn't know. But if she ignored Nerri now, he might not trust her enough later when they needed his help.

"But we do."

Joan turned her head slightly to the guard. To her it seemed like this guy was just itching for a reason to use his zapper.

"Please, I beg for amnesty."

Joan, knowing the zapping would be inevitable by now, suppressed a sigh. "We're not a diplomatic ship, but perhaps we could use moral authority." With a swift move she knocked the guard's arm away from his temple and shoved him against the wall. "There's no harm in talking. I'm not judging your justice system but I will not accept needless punishment while you are on this ship. Now, what do you say about locking him up and leaving him alone, huh?"

"I would like to point out that interfering with us might cause bigger problems for you."

Joan shrugged. "I'm sure we can handle it."

_Even then I knew that was a __bluff__. If this __Botari__ guard __got__ a chance to talk to his buddies back home, Moya would be in a hell of a lot of trouble. This may not have been the smartest move I ever made._

_Anyway, right after __Nerri__ was put in his cell, I suddenly remembered Aeron was still locked up, not knowing what was going on (remember, I didn't know Pilot had already informed him of our unexpected guests). I decided to go to him in person, seeing that I could do with a little cool-down myself._

_Meanwhile, __V'Enda__ had taken it upon herself to check __whether __our little lady frog was behaving herself._

V'Enda walked towards Rohnn's quarters. She just knew the little Domina would try something. Maybe not with a bomb, but one thing V'Enda had learned, and come to respect about the smallest crew member, was her ingenuity. Just too bad she only used that if it could improve her own situation or procure something of value.

As V'Enda came closer, she focused on walking more stealthily, all the while sniffing the air to determine if Rohnn was inside or not. She couldn't be certain, as the smell of Faracian could easily be explained by the fact Rohnn had been in that quarters for many cycles.

Eventually she reached the grating that functioned as a door and peeked inside. Nobody. V'Enda tapped her comms. "Pilot, does Moya know where Rohnn is at the moment?"

After a short pause, Pilot replied. "She's aboard the Botari vessel."

"Thanks, Pilot." V'Enda closed the comms channel. "Frell! I should have stayed with that tiny creature." She stomped off in the direction of the maintenance bay, reactivating her comms. "Crandon, Bohr. As I feared, our Lowness has gone to the Botari vessel. I doubt she just went to reminisce with the good captain about their prior encounter."

_By that time, I had informed Aeron about the current situation. Since I'd left out some of the details, like names, species and/or military ranks, Aeron was quite surprised to learn about a captain being amongst the visitors._

"Captain? What captain?"

Joan shrugged a little after closing the comms. "The one from the Zelbinion."

Aeron's eyes widened. "The legendary Captain Dinta? Wait, that's impossible. The Zelbinion was lost over one hundred cycles ago. Dinta was already middle-aged by then."

Joan nodded. "She escaped, or rather, abandoned ship, once the Botari came for a visit and started transforming the Zelbinion to scrap metal."

"She abandoned ship?"

Joan nodded again. "Yeah. The Botari picked her up and put her through a process to eliminate the thought patterns that led to her 'inappropriate behavior', taking almost a hundred cycles of cryonic suspension."

"So, what's this got to do with Rohnn?"

"The Zelbinion was the first prison ship for her. The good captain took great pleasure in torturing her."

"Did you know that she might do something to Dinta? Did something like that occur in that show?"

"Yeah, but that was with a bomb. V'Enda made sure Rohnn wouldn't be able to make one. But I forgot something. On that show, your counterpart went to Rohnn's counterpart and took away the knife. You never went, so my guess is that Rohnn has a knife and is going to use it on Dinta."

_I hate it when I'm right_

"Let's see her come back from that!" Rohnn spat on the head she unceremoniously dumped on the floor right outside the Botari vessel.

V'Enda moved towards her and the head, her face showing a mixture of annoyed anger and satisfaction.

The Botari guard showed pure hatred. If V'Enda wouldn't have been in between him and Rohnn, he would have certainly attacked Rohnn. "You've ruined everything!"

Rohnn grinned. "I did no such thing! I made this universe a better place."

The guard looked around. "You will all pay for interfering with our plan. The hive ship is already on its way to retrieve us. They will destroy you once they learn about this, as well as the judging earlier of how we handle our prisoners."

_See, I k__new my earlier interference__ would bit__e__ us in the ass. Did I mention yet I hate being right?_

_Anyway, by now it was clear __to everyone __we needed to keep this gr__e__y dude away from any comms.__ Luckily the comms on his vessel were completely fried, which made our job a whole lot easier. Well, I thought it would__. Less than half an arn later I was called to Command. I only took two wrong turns __getting there__ (my sense of direction is definitely improving)._

"What's up?"

V'Enda turned to Joan. "Apparently, the Botari guard has taken control of Pilot, and we can't get there."

"Has he gained control to all systems of Moya?"

V'Enda shook her head. "No, not yet, but that's just a matter of time. So far, he still hasn't gained access to the comms, propulsion or life support systems, though he did manage to lock _us_ out of those systems, too."

"Is there absolutely no way to get in there?"

Again, V'Enda shook her head. "No, Pilot's den is completely sealed. Even DRDs and our Lowness can't get in there."

Joan frowned, deep in thought. After a while she looked back up at V'Enda. "How about bugs? If there's air going into the den, could bugs use that access point?"

"Yes, but I doubt we could infect him."

"Not infect him, take him out."

"And how would a bug do that?"

"By changing into us." Joan saw the confused looks. "Those bugs that are aboard Moya, they can take our DNA and change into us. If we ask the queen if she could spare a few of her subjects, we could use them to overpower the Botari guard."

_Good thing I'm not totally thrown off-track by the sudden change in events. Granted, it's not Peacekeepers we're trying to fool, or for the same reason, but the general idea can still be applied._

_But, there was one tiny little problem: since the bug queen had said she would leave us alone, none of us had seen any of the bugs. That left us with only one way to communicate: send the little toad to the hatching area. To you, Dot, that might sound familiar, so you won't be surprised__ that__ it wasn't as __eas__ily__ done as it was said._

"Come on, Rohnn. I told you you'll be safe."

"Huh. And you base that on what? A piece of fiction that showed my counterpart was safe?"

"That, and the fact I already talked to the queen and informed her we would leave them alone."

"Exactly. They expect to be left alone. Letting me in there will not be tolerated. Not that I blame them. I wouldn't enjoy being interrupted during... procreation activities either."

V'Enda sighed, grabbed Rohnn and forcefully shoved her into one of the access shafts. "Stop wasting time, you're going now."

_Queen eat-a-lot took her sweet time. It took her nearly half an hour before she finally reported back._

"The hive queen has agreed to provide help in the execution of your... plan, for lack of a better word."

"I didn't hear you come up with any," Joan muttered, making sure Rohnn wouldn't hear it. Out loud she replied, "Excellent. They already have my DNA, so they only have to acquire V'Enda and Bohr's."

"Huh, luckily I prepared myself, in case I would be forced to go through with this nonsense. I took some small tokens from both Bohr as well as V'Enda. Consider it payment for my services. It contained enough DNA for the hive to use."

_I'll spare you the string of curses and threats coming from __V'Enda__. Suffice it to say that __Rohnn__ was wise when she informed us she was going into hiding for a few days._

_On with the show.__ About twenty bugs went to Pilot's den. With a handful of __V'Endas__Bohrs__ and __Joans__, it should be possible to take this __Botari__ guard out. The queen herself __hijacked Bohr again, to keep us informed, seeing as we had no way to know what was going on inside._

"The colorless one is providing much resistance. My subjects are unable to get near him."

"Use V'Enda's tongue to knock him out."

The queen looked questioningly.

Joan pointed to V'Enda. "Her tongue contains an adaptive venom. It will render someone unconscious. Just hit him with one of her tongues."

_Yes__, Mom__, I know, that sounds really weird. In all likelihood, I'll be __spouting__ more and more weird things in the coming month__s__, increasing in level of weirdness, I'm sure._

The queen nodded once. "The first one missed, but the colorless one was hit by the second. He's now incapacitated."

"Fantastic," Joan exclaimed. "Now all we need to do is have Pilot regain control over Moya's systems and we can get that annoying grey guy out of here."

"Any ideas on how to do that?"

_Well, no__, not immediately__, as this situation didn't occur on Farscape.__ But we got lucky._

"The entrance has been opened."

"Pilot has regained control on his own?"

"No, but I am able to communicate with the host."

"The host? Oh, Moya. Is she able to give Pilot control back?"

"The host is trying, but the symbiont is not fully conscious. I do suggest you make your way there quickly, before the colorless one regains consciousness."

_V'Enda__ and I ran towards the den (__V'Enda__ sure can run fast; I had a lot of trouble keeping up. I'm sure I annoyed her because I was slowing her down). When we arrived, Pilot appeared more lucid, and the colorless one, I mean, the __Botari__ guard was attempting to get to his feet._

"I would advise you to remain on the floor."

The guard looked at V'Enda and then to Joan with pure hatred in his eyes. Then his eyes fell on a couple of copies and his expression changed from pure hatred to partial hatred and a lot of confusion. "How..?"

Joan shrugged a bit. "A number of space-living creatures have taken residence aboard Moya for their hatching cycle. They have the ability to take our DNA and shape themselves accordingly."

_I took a little time to think. These __Botari__ might become a real problem, and __I __wondered if they also used STDs to spread the mind-control thing. If so, this guy might be useful in determining the virus and p__erhaps even __find__ing__ a cure for it._

_On the other hand, bringing it up __now would__ clearly indicate to him that I knew a lot about their cause__, meaning if he got out, we would surely get the __Botari__ on our collective asses._

_Then again, if he got out, we would get the __Botari__ on our collective asses anyway, though for a totally different reason. Either way, it was clear this guy could not leave Moya, but keeping him here wasn't the safest thing either. Well, cross that bridge and all that._

"Are you a carrier of the virus your people use to infect others by frelling them?"

_Note to self: inform crew about these things __**before**__ I spring it on them in tense situations. But the reaction from the __Botari__ was priceless (great, now I miss my credit-card) and all-telling._

"I'm taking that as a yes." Joan turned to V'Enda. "I'll explain later." She turned back to the Botari guard. "I'm guessing your people want Nerri for two reasons. One, to find out how was he cleansed from the contagion and two, does he know where his sister Chiana is, and by extension the location of the Botari Resistance."

"Why is this important?"

Joan turned to V'Enda. "If he's a carrier, we might be able to find a cure before the currently-inactive virus awakens, allowing them an easy takeover of this region"

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but the Botari are not interested in anything but the greater good."

"Which would be..?"

_Right after asking the question it occurred to me this guy's nervousness had turned into smugness. That couldn't possibly indicate anything good. He got nervous when I confronted him with the truth I shouldn't have known, and all of a sudden he's mister confidence himself. I once again turned to __V'Enda_

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"He seems suddenly very sure."

"He's going to blow himself and this ship up!"

Joan turned around to see Nerri standing there.

V'Enda immediately knocked out the Botari guard. "Help me carry him to the nearest airlock. He's leaving."

_And here I thought only humans were stupid enough to do suicide bombings. Anyway, __V'Enda__ and I got him to an airlock well in time and Pilot had regained enough control to increase the d__istance between us and the Al Q__a__e__da __wanna__-be_

_The hive queen informed us they had finished their cycle and would leave Moya immediately, though she expressed her gratitude._

_That only left __Nerri__, who had clearly heard me rambling on and on about stuff I shouldn't have known._

"That is so drad! You can tell me exactly what's going to happen!"

"Not exactly. See, the fact you are here _now_, instead of a few monens from now, is already a deviation from what I know. It might even be that only a handful of episodes are actually going to play out for real, and each change I make may result in even bigger deviations. In short, I can only inform you about things just before they happen, and even then I might get things wrong."

"Oh." Nerri paused. "Will I see my sister again?"

Joan shrugged. "Possibly. I don't know for sure." She sighed. "Look, I can't guarantee anything, but on the show Chiana did get to see Nerri, if only on a vid-chip. I can't say anything beyond that, I'm sorry."

"No, that's okay. I'll just wait and see." He paused again. "You see, a weeken ago, the life-disc that connects us stopped working."

"She's not dead. She just removed the disc because she wanted you to _think_ she's dead, in case you'd be captured." Joan paused. "At least, that's what I got from that TV show."

_Apparently, that was enough for __Nerri__. He's just like my little brother, too. Well, besides being completely grey with black hair.__ But his personality is so the same. I think I can really become good friends with him._

_Aeron doesn't seem to like him, much like Aeryn didn't seem to like Chiana too much at first. I'm thinking it'll become better._

_I think I'm going to quit now. I'll have to remember to not write long stories next time, but just give you the bare-bones. I mean, how likely is it I'll be able to buy more paper and __pen__s__ around here? Anyway, love you both very much. Give my little brother a hug from me (not you__ Dot, __M__om__ should do that). I'll promise I'll write him a little note later._


	3. Episode 3: Reality Check

"What's up, Pilot?" Joan walked into Command, looking at Pilot's image on the clamshell display.

"I fail to see the importance of this phenomenon," Rohnn offered.

Joan turned towards her. "What phenom..." Mid-turn, her eyes went over the forward portal. "Fuck! Pilot, back away, now!" _I'm an idiot! I should have seen this coming_

"Doctor? Isn't this the phenomenon that brought you here? Moya is certain she detected this when you arrived here."

"Pilot, don't argue, get away from that thing!" As Joan said this, the image of Earth became visible. She knew it wasn't real, but seeing it did make her heart beat a bit faster.

"Very well. Moya has increased the distance and is plotting a course around it."

Joan nodded. "Good, crisis averted." She turned around, intending to get back to the schematics she'd been studying.

"Attention! The phenomenon is moving in our direction! It will reach us in twenty microts!"

Joan turned back and slammed with her fist on the nearest console. "Damn it! Pilot, tell Moya to step on it. Get away from it, use Starburst, I don't care, but get the hell away from that thing!"

"Moya is traveling at top Hetch, but the phenomenon is still gaining. We can not use Starburst for at least another arn."

"Just fucking great," Joan muttered.

* * *

Joan was sitting behind the glass wall, staring stoically ahead and ignoring the man in front of her asking thousand-and-one questions. She recognized him, of course. She recognized everyone she had seen since Moya got swallowed by the wormhole.

Bohr tapped her shoulder. "Joan, you know they can't understand us. You have to provide the answers."

"What did it say?"

Joan sighed. "As I told you before: get my mom in here, and I'll talk."

"Get out of my way!"

'_Wow, that's fast_,' Joan thought to herself. She turned to her friends. "That's what my mom looks like."

"Kill that switch!"

Joan rolled her eyes. Did they have to react exactly like that? Together with her friends she watched the argument play out.

Eventually, Jean apparently won, and entered their quarantine room. "Joan..."

"Cut the crap, _mom_. I know this ain't real. I know you're just looking for a planet to call home and you took my memories to create this..." she gestured with her hand to indicate their current environment, "and determine if the people of Earth would welcome you or fight you. They'd fight, trust me."

Jean looked thoroughly confused. "What are you talking about?"

Joan got up and in a few large strides, walked over to her. She grabbed the front of Jean's shirt and whirled her around to push her up against the wall.

Bohr stood up. "Joan! What are you doing?"

Joan ignored him and looked in Jean's eyes as the front of her shirt came of. "I'm talking about this being a fake-out. Cut the crap, now!"

Immediately, the room vanished and was replaced by an odd room, illuminated by an orange glow.

"Impressive..."

"Yeah, yeah, I did well, most species don't do as well, yadda, yadda, yadda. Listen, back home there was this fictional TV-show and somehow I got stuck here living through nearly identical adventures. That's how I knew this wasn't real. That's why I asked Moya to back away from your damn fake wormhole."

"This is not real?"

Joan turned to her friends. "No, it isn't. I'm afraid it's pretty accurate, though the worst-case scenario."

"This reality has been realized thousands of cycles ago. There is no sign the timeline has been altered in any way..."

Joan turned back to Jean. "It must have. I got here with foreknowledge about many events. Too many for it being mere coincidence that someone on Earth thought up those events. Ergo, someone from here, probably a few cycles from now, must have gone back in time and created this TV-show."

"Most likely an event that should take place in this reality. Otherwise, we would have detected a breach."

"Someone is supposed to go back and inform me? Why?"

"Unknown. But this reality shows no signs of being tampered with."

"How would you know if it was?"

"Our species can sense the lines of time. Any deviation of these lines, caused by a traveler going back through time and altering the outcome of any event, would be instantly detected."

Joan nodded and thought a little. "What if it was someone from another reality who traveled back in time and to my reality?"

Jean seemed to contemplate that for a long time, as if the option would be unheard of. "Then we would not detect any deviation. Any change you affect because of what you learned on Earth would simply cause this reality to branch off."

"Right. But when this other person traveled back in time, wouldn't he have caused a ripple in time? Time is all encompassing, isn't it? I remember on the show one of your ancestors explaining that in that case a traveler will need to fix the first thing going wrong and get the hell out of there."

"Yes, the elasticity of time will cause events to revert to familiar outcomes. But this is only an issue should a traveler go back to a place and time he has been before. As you said, it is possible someone not from Earth traveled back in time to Earth."

"Uh-huh, but then he could still have come from this reality, right?"

"He could without causing the ripple that would alter events. But we would still have detected the travel through time."

"But you're unable to detect if someone from another reality enters this one?"

"Changing reality does not influence time's natural progression. The only means of detection is to compare a person's energy phase to that of the reality. Each reality has its own energy phase, a signature identifying the exact reality and time of origin."

"Have I switched realities when I arrived here?"

Jean shook her head. "No, that was the first thing I checked when you mentioned the possibility of someone having crossed into a different reality."

Joan nodded. "Well, I suppose that's good. Listen, I wanna go home, but do not, I repeat, do _not_ put the wormhole knowledge in my head and lock it up. Bad things come from that..."

"You already possess the necessary equations."

"...not long from now... I what?!"

"The wormhole equations... they are already implanted in your brain, though you can not access them..."

"...consciously. They're there to guide me, shave of some cycles of research, I know." Joan sighed. "Can you get this crap out? Remove it?"

"No, we can't. And we shouldn't."

"Hell yeah, you should! Haven't you been listening? Bad things are gonna happen. People wanting this knowledge will come after me, and soon. And they're not gonna be careful with it, nor worry about how they're gonna get it."

"The knowledge was not given by us. Our ancestors must have implanted it during your first travel through the wormhole."

"Wait a minute! Are you saying that Einstein put this crap in? The one that is so afraid of anyone in this realm penetrating the walls between our realms. The one that created you to monitor and safeguard that knowledge in this realm?"

Jean smiled. "We don't call him Einstein, but it does prove you have obtained many details about what to expect here."

"Yeah, a lot of good it has done us so far."

"You can use your knowledge of future events to avoid the people wanting the wormhole knowledge, Joan."

"Do I? I ended up here anyway, didn't I? I haven't exactly done a good job avoiding things. At most I speed things up, avoid the worst injuries, but that's it."

Jean looked into Joan's eyes for a long moment. "Exactly, you can avoid the worst injuries."

Joan looked confused at first, but then started to smile. "Avoid the worst injuries! Of course. No injury, lessen the likelihood of running into Nosferatu. And get out of my head, will you?"

Jean nodded. "I've gleaned at lot of information about the possible events you may encounter. Perhaps another safeguard is prudent."

"What other safeguard?"

"Whenever you choose a path to avoid others to find out about your knowledge, you are able to live through segments of unrealized realities. Because this is dangerous, you are limited to four realities and you're only allowed to witness key points of that reality."

Joan eyed her dubiously. "It can't be that easy."

Jean shook her head. "It isn't. The realities you'll witness are based on your personal choices. Even if you make the same choices, the reality may change, due to choices of the people around you. It is prudent to choose the path which is least dependant on the choices of others to achieve your goal."

Joan sighed. "Well, I suppose any help is better than none."

* * *

Joan sat on her bed, scribbling in one of the two journals. She knew Aeron had walked up to the door of her quarters but he hadn't made a move or said a thing since. Eventually she sighed. "Either come in or go, but don't keep standing there. You're getting on my nerves."

"Who is coming after the knowledge you possess?"

"Don't know, haven't met him or her yet."

"Tell me about the person you've seen on that fiction show."

Joan sighed again, but finally did look up. "Doesn't matter, since he or she won't find out about me and the crap that's up here." She tapped her forehead.

Aeron walked to her bed and set next to her. "Humor me."

Joan looked at him and then turned away. "A Scarran-Sebacean half-breed. Sebacean, that's your species. The others are big lizards. Scaly, thick skin..."

Aeron nodded. "Heat glands powerful enough to have almost any species succumb to it, even their own, I heard." He paused. "Most Peacekeepers believe it to be just a rumor, but I know the Pluran-Seforan scientist having climbed up the ranks does in fact exist."

Joan nodded. "Just great. Anyway, on the show he's working on wormholes and when he runs into Crichton and finds out he has the knowledge locked up inside, he believes he's won the lottery."

"But you know how you'd meet, so you can simply avoid that."

Joan nodded slowly. "Yeah, avoid that trap." Slightly distracted by her thoughts, she didn't notice the slight shift in her environment.

"What circumstances will lead you to meet this scientist?"

_Should I tell this? What if the virus enters his mind? No, I shouldn't tell anyone._ "I get caught while on a secret Peacekeeper base somewhere here in the Uncharted Territories." _Not even a lie. I just left some details out. No harm, no foul, right?_

"The Peacekeepers have a base here?"

Joan nodded. "Yeah. We'll run into it."

Aeron was silent for a little while. "Why did your counterpart go inside the base?"

"He didn't have much of a choice at that time." _At least none I could live with._

"In that case, we'll have to make sure you're not forced this time."

Joan experienced a flash and found herself eye to eye with a creature that looked remarkably similar to Scorpius, but was clearly female. Aeron was strapped in a revolving chair, seemingly unconscious, and Joan knew that this... thing in front of her had already learned from Aeron's time in the chair that Joan was the key to wormholes.

Immediately she experienced another flash and she was back aboard Moya, Aeron sitting beside her.

"What circumstances will lead you to meet this scientist?"

_What the hell?__Did I already use up one unrealized reality?_ "You'll get seriously wounded and I go to a secret Peacekeeper base here in the Uncharted Territories to obtain tissue to make sure you'll survive."

"The Peacekeepers have a base here?"

Joan nodded. "Yeah. We'll find that out soon."

"Perhaps it would be better to not go there, even if it means I'll die."

"Aeron, that's not an option. I wouldn't be able to live with the knowledge I let you die, just to save my own ass. We'll just have to make sure you don't get hurt."

"How?"

"By not helping the Peacekeeper Special Ops we run into."

Another flash occurred. Joan now found herself facing Bohr and some Peacekeeper medics.

"It's an intellant virus," one of the Peacekeeper medics said. "A team had been send out to attempt retrieval, but when they finally returned, monans beyond their original schedule, the virus had taken over already. We didn't realize until later. We are currently the only ones from that Gammack base who escaped unaffected."

"But we have no way to test that, do we?" Bohr asked.

"It doesn't matter. The virus will spread throughout this region, multiplying constantly. We have no way to stop it, short of burning the entire region down. And I do mean the entire region, every single planet and star. We're frelled."

Another flash. _Ookaay__, not helping__ is __clearly not... helping any_

"What circumstances will lead you to meet this scientist?"

"A damaged Marauder will come aboard, carrying a secret cargo. Our Royal Lowness and the Prince of Thieves open it up and release the intellant virus that's inside."

"So, we won't let them come aboard?"

"Bad choice. What if the virus takes over? Besides, not knowing where this secret Peacekeeper base, where the virus is supposed to be taken to, is, might have us run into it accidentally."

"I see what you mean. If the Peacekeepers fail to keep the virus contained, everyone will be frelled. If we do get in range with the base, we're frelled."

Joan nodded. "Exactly." She paused. "We need to take them onboard, play it out up to the point where they tell us where the secret base is. And get them the hell off of Moya, destroying the virus in the process."

"Who'll be infected first?"

"Nerri, though he'll make us believe Rohnn is infected. Then I get infected and by the time everyone figures out Rohnn is not infected, the Peacekeeper captain is. Unfortunately nobody knows, since everyone has touched me, in an attempt to keep me from shooting anyone." _Where is that flash to show me how this pans out? What other choices are there to make from this point on?_

"Wouldn't it be better to tell the two thieves to not mess with the cargo?"

Joan shrugged. "Maybe." She paused. "Right, we'll tell them to keep away."

This time there was a flash and Joan was faced with an unknown male Peacekeeper. "It was interesting to learn about my demise from the Botari. It helped in deviating from the path. I've no where to go, but into you."

Joan glanced down at herself and noticed she was shackled. She looked back up. "And once in me, your current host will waste no time killing me and you."

"I'm not that stupid. I'll leave as this host takes his last breath."

"And so, you're in me, shackled up and nowhere to go."

"Wrong again. When I'm in you, you'll have enough strength to break your bonds. No, this will work out just fine."

Another flash and Joan was once again back on her bed, Aeron sitting beside her. _Right, we don't tell anyone.__ Take four..._

"What circumstances will lead you to meet this scientist?"

"We'll run into him after you get injured in a way that will kill you in a matter of days." She held up her hand when she saw Aeron was about to respond. "If you're going to tell me to let you die, save your breath, 'cause that ain't gonna happen."

Aeron shut his mouth and nodded. "Alright. How do I get injured?"

_Okay, Joan. Time to get creative here..._ "During a fight on a commerce planet with some alien. Just bad luck, I suppose. The thing is, we didn't want to go to the planet anyway, but someone lured us on a promise of having a way home for all of us, which turned out to be false." _Hey, if I'm lying, I might as well try avoiding that fiasco__, though if the show was chronological, it should've happened already_

Aeron nodded again. "Alright, so we won't walk into that trap and we'd be okay?"

Joan nodded. "Yeah."

In a flash she found herself running after the same male Peacekeeper she'd seen in the previous reality, Aeron and V'Enda right behind her.

V'Enda, clearly the fastest of the three, increased her speed, shouting, "We can't let the virus escape!"

Joan barely managed to grab her arm and hold her back. "I got a plan." At the same moment the docking bay's inner doors started to close and the trio came to a halt. "Pilot, is the Peacekeeper ship still leaking fuel?"

"Yes, doctor. Per your instructions, the DRDs haven't completed the repairs."

"Right, make a one-eighty. That means Moya should turn in place and point to were we came from. Then have her initiate the first stage of Starburst. The energy should set the fuel trail on fire and blow up the Peacekeeper vessel."

Half a minute later, Pilot reported the Peacekeeper ship had been blown up.

This time she did perceive the shift and once again she was back on her bed. _Well, take four seems to be working._

"What circumstances will lead you to meet this scientist?"

"We'll run into him after you get injured in a way that will kill you in a matter of days." She held up her hand when she saw Aeron was about to respond. "If you're going to tell me to let you die, save your breath, 'cause that ain't gonna happen."

Aeron shut his mouth and nodded. "Alright. How do I get injured?"

* * *

"Why are we attempting Crandon's way first?"

"Because, sweet V'Enda, this has a chance of succeeding."

V'Enda snorted. "But she admitted she has no idea what we are facing. It is not as if she has foreknowledge."

"That doesn't mean her plans should be ignored. You have to admit this is the only one of the discussed plans that could work."

"Perhaps, but I end up being captured again."

"You are a prisoner only temporarily." Borh moved to Rohnn's cell.

"I fail to see why I have to give up my thronesled."

"What would these Peacekeepers think if one of the prisoners was allowed to keep her possession?"

Bohr finally took the thronesled from Rohnn and gave it to Nerri. He then walked into his own cell. "Pilot, we're ready."

"Understood." Immediately, the cell doors closed and locked.

* * *

"I understand, doctor."

"Thanks, Pilot, saves us a lot of time should things go pear-shaped. And remember to address me as 'Captain' once these PKs have boarded."

* * *

Joan walked down the corridor towards the landing bay. She could already hear Aeron doing his job by asking the newcomers to identify themselves. The reply was no different from what she expected. '_Captain __Maldar__, not disclosing his assignment, check. Alright, h__ere goes nothing,_' Joan thought as she took a deep breath and palmed the door open. "Ease your weapon, Lieutenant." She paused. "That's an order." Much to her surprise, the team consisted of just three members: the captain and two lieutenants.

Aeron lowered his weapon and Maldar turned toward her while lowering his weapon. "Smart move, Captain."

"Do not think you will be able to take over _my_ vessel and crew. There are several hundred DRDs, equipped with lasers who will happily shoot you should you decide to try it anyway. If you want my help, you need to ask nicely." Joan refused to copy Crichton's words and actions to the letter. Any deviation she made now could only help in realizing the course change she was aiming for.

Maldar's cocky expression toned down visibly. "My team and I are on a priority Red-One mission. We need to deliver our cargo to a Peacekeeper base."

Joan nodded. "I'll have some of the DRDs make necessary repairs to your ship." She looked up, cursing herself for having adopted that habit from the show for no good reason. "Pilot, how long will it take for the DRDs to repair the fuel leak?"

"Four arns, Captain."

Joan nodded. "Good. Begin repairs immediately." She looked back at Maldar. "Will that be all?"

"Captain, your current heading will take us further away from the Peacekeeper base. I would like to request you alter course to minimize our time loss. We need to get our cargo there as quickly as possible."

Joan faked thinking over his request for a while and then nodded. "If you provide us with the coordinates, we will head in that direction, but only at half speed. Our mission, too, has time constraints, but at the moment we are a little ahead of schedule."

Maldar nodded and gestured toward the doors. "In private, please. The location of this base is need-to-know only."

Joan nodded and gestured for Maldar to follow her.

* * *

Joan knew the kids had given in to their natural talent for getting into trouble the minute Pilot, discreetly, signaled her on her comms. She tapped her comms. "You know what to do, Pilot."

"Yes, doctor. I already initiated the first step."

Joan nodded and headed towards the prison cells. "I'll inform the others."

"Okay people, as I feared, the two children have attempted to open the cargo of these nice Peacekeepers." Joan turned to Bohr. "And we have an additional problem. Pilot has some DRDs creating some Pepto, but he needs your assistance."

"Pepta?"

"Pep-_to_. It's an anti-acid. Never mind, just go help the DRDs. They're busy in the apothecary."

As Bohr made his way towards the apothecary, slightly confused, the comms activated and Maldar's voice boomed through the device. "Captain, we have run into a problem. Your assistance is required in the landing bay."

Joan decided to play dumb. "What kind of problem are we talking about?"

"Our special cargo has been compromised."

"And how is this _my_ problem, exactly?"

The comms went quiet for a while. "Our cargo consisted of an intellant virus. It has escaped and infected the Faracian."

* * *

"Why has the prisoner been released?"

Joan turned to Maldar. "Listen, Captain. You have an intellant virus on the loose. We need every one on this ship to help locate it, or we're all frelled."

"Captain, with all due respect..."

"There will be no further discussion. We'll split the ship in three parts." Joan pointed at Maldar and Nerri. "You two will search the lower tiers." She pointed to the only remaining lieutenant and V'Enda. "You two will check the middle tiers, Aeron and I will check the upper tiers."

"What about the Palian?"

"He'd be of no use. Besides, no one is to look for the Domina alone. Let's go, people. We're wasting time."

* * *

"Joan, what's going on?"

"There's a virus on the loose."

"Yes, I know, but..."

"Aeron, I don't know any more than you do, so just drop it, alright?"

"Fine."

Joan and Aeron continued their search. Joan hoped they would get to the little Domina before the trigger happy Lieutenant or Captain would. As they moved to their last assigned tier, Joan turned to Aeron. "Did you learn anything from Maldar?"

Aeron nodded. "Yes. Apparently, the base their heading to is the only surface-based one, but a number of Command Carriers are scattered throughout the Uncharted Territories, all serving as a science base for various scientific purposes."

"Undoubtedly to make sure that if something goes wrong, it's as far away from Peacekeeper controlled space as possible."

"Most likely, yes. But Maldar did point out that there might be other bases around of which he just hasn't been informed."

Joan nodded. "In your opinion, is that likely to be the case?"

Aeron paused, literally coming to a standstill. "I.. uh..."

Joan also stopped, looking confusedly back at Aeron. "What?"

"You're asking for my opinion?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I.. ah.. I'm not used to be allowed to think for myself, let alone someone asking me for my opinion."

"Something tells me you have thought for yourself often. Is that why you were demoted?" She held up her hand again. "Never mind. You're not getting in trouble now, so tell me what you think."

Aeron nodded and resumed his course, Joan following his example. "As far as I can tell, Maldar has one of the highest clearances in the Peacekeeper ranks. Undoubtedly, those in High Command have more secrets they did keep from him, but due to his field of operation, and the tasks he's asked to perform, it's unlikely they wouldn't inform him how to stay away from other Peacekeeper bases. He knows about quite a few Carrier-based secret bases, and it seems illogical for High Command to not give him full disclosure of all locations and risk him and his crew running into a base unprepared."

Joan digested the rather long analysis and had to agree with Aeron's assessment. "I agree. So, did you get the locations of those Carriers?"

Aeron shook his head. "No, but that doesn't matter. Moya is unlikely to miss a Command Carrier. A base hidden on the surface of a planetary body is nearly impossible to detect. Since we know its location, we can safely navigate around the Uncharted Territories without risking being detected by it."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right."

Just as they started the search on their final Tier, V'Enda and the lieutenant reported they'd found Rohnn. When Aeron and Joan arrived at their location, Joan could just see Nerri letting go of Maldar, both looking slightly confused.

She turned towards the lieutenant. "So, where's the little lady?"

He pointed towards one of the DRD maintenance ducts. "In there." He turned to Maldar. "Did you grab the weapon?"

Joan held up her hands. "Whoa, wait a microt. Can't we make certain first she's actually infected? Is there a way to detect the virus?"

The lieutenant looked at his captain, but he didn't seem to be quite there. He scratched his head. "Well... the virus is acid-based."

Joan noticed V'Enda turning her head to look at her, but luckily she was smart enough to keep quiet and avert her gaze. "So, if we have some substance that would react to acid, we could determine whether or not Rohnn is infected?"

The side effects of the virus transfer had apparently worn off, as Maldar interrupted. "Of course she's infected! Why else would she be hiding?"

Joan turned to him and shrugged. "To avoid getting shot at, maybe? Infected or not, I wouldn't want to be shot at either." She turned her head to ceiling. "Pilot, does Moya have any supply of a substance that would react to the acidic nature of the virus? One that would not be harmful to the test subject?"

After a short pause the reply came. "Yes, Captain, Moya does contain such a substance. I will have the Palian prisoner bring it to your current location."

* * *

"Let's be rational about this," Maldar argued again. "The Faracian was the only one present when the virus got lose. She killed one of my lieutenants. We know all of this."

Pilot interrupted their discussion. "According to my calculations, the substance should react heavily with the virus, possibly kill it. But if someone was previously infected by the virus, even if there are traces of the acidic residue, those traces would be so minute that a reaction should not be detectable."

Joan nodded once. "Thanks, Pilot." She turned to the others. "Who's gonna go first?"

Seeing the dubious looks all around, Joan decided to go first. "Just to prove to you all that it's safe." After Bohr had injected her with the Pepto, she waited a few seconds and then turned back. "See? Nothing to it." She pointed at Maldar. "As captain, I believe you, too, should set an example."

"This is ridiculous. I will not undergo this procedure to prove I'm not infected."

His lieutenant raised his weapon a bit. "I believe you should, sir."

"I will not. For all we know it could kill me."

The lieutenant, raised his weapon some more. "I think the captain of this vessel just proved it to be harmless. You, however, seem very reluctant to let yourself be tested. Perhaps you are infected and the virus is afraid of being killed."

Maldar didn't wait any longer, and pulled his knife, stabbing his lieutenant as he ran out of the room.

Immediately, Joan, V'Enda and Aeron ran after him, Joan silently hoping this would all work out they way she had seen in her glimpse of that last unrealized reality.

She stopped V'Enda right before the bay doors closed and asked Pilot to turn around and initiate the first stage of Starburst. Problem solved.

* * *

Joan was facing Aeron in the exercise bay and he was definitely not happy. "You did know about this, didn't you Joan?" Obviously he detected she was about to deny it, as he continued. "You knew Rohnn wasn't infected, you asked Pilot to hold the repairs and asked him and Bohr to create the substance that would detect the virus."

Joan sighed and nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He paused a beat. "Or the others?"

"I couldn't risk the intellant virus finding out I knew about it and what it was going to do. As long as everyone thought this was an adventure I didn't know about, the virus would think it was safe." She looked over his body. "You didn't get hurt, nor were the others, so what's the problem?"

Aeron stepped closer to her. "The problem is you didn't trust me." Again a short pause preceded the amending, "Us."

"Maybe I should have, but as long as I couldn't be certain you weren't going to be infected, this was the safest choice."

"It still hurts." Aeron walked past her and out of the exercise bay.

Joan looked at his retreating back, mumbling, "It's supposed to be the other way around."


	4. Episode 4: Mentality 1: Silly, isn't it?

"Don't look at me! I have no clue!"

Aeron snorted. "You said that last time, too."

Joan whirled around. "Will you just let it go already? I told you I had good reasons to not tell you about the virus. I can't tell you everything, because it might make things a lot worse."

Bohr put his hand on her shoulder. "I do understand, Joan, but you must admit that you saying you don't know about this is not very convincing."

Joan sighed. "Yeah, I know." She turned back to the clamshell. "Pilot, has Moya determined who's aboard?"

"Unfortunately not, Doctor. Something is interfering with Moya's scans. We only know there are ten people aboard."

"And why, may I ask, are we listening to their request to remain in position?" Rohnn asked. "I, for one, don't like the idea of allowing anyone to get anywhere near us."

"Considering they already fired a warning shot at us with a promise to make the next one count if we so much as move, it's hardly a request, and certainly not the right moment to high-tail it out of here, as much as I'd like Moya to do, too."

V'Enda looked at Joan. "Are you sure you know nothing about this?"

Joan let out a frustrated groan and raised her hands. "Oh, for cryin' out loud!"

"Why else would you like us to get away so much?"

Joan cast an unbelieving look at V'Enda, and then extended it to the others. "What, you don't wanna get away?" She paused briefly and then turned around to leave Command. "Forget it. I'll be in my quarters."

"Joan," she heard Bohr call after her, but Joan ignored him and kept on going. Not the best of her moments.

* * *

"Doctor?"

Joan sighed, not bothering to get up from her bed. "Are you gonna bug me about keeping secrets as well, Pilot?"

"I am not going to... bug you about anything. I merely wish to inform you our… guests have arrived."

"And?" Damn, this whole thing must have really gotten to her. She was never one to hold a grudge or be angry for long. Joan shook her head, trying to dispel her bad mood.

"They appear to be looking for you."

Joan bolted upright. "_Me?_"

"Yes, they requested to talk to the Seforan-looking alien who came to our galaxy by means of an unknown phenomenon."

Joan got up from her bed and started to pace the small area in front of it. "That can't be good."

"Aeron asked me to inform you that a Pluran-Seforan half-breed is among them."

Joan's heart nearly stopped. This really wasn't good.

* * *

Joan didn't know which way to go next. She'd been crawling around Moya's maintenance ducts for what felt like hours, but probably was only about half an hour. When she realized Scorpy's counterpart had shown up at their doorstep, she'd had only one thing on her mind: hide!

During her crawling about, she'd frequently had to stop and remain still until the Peacekeepers had cleared the area. She absolutely didn't want to get captured, but she was also afraid for her shipmates. She knew that while she wasn't found, the Peacekeepers and half-breed would make the lives of the others a living hell, but the fear for her own health overruled any thoughts of helping them.

She tried to get to the one location were she'd be impossible to detect, even by Moya: the falmor chamber. The same room where Aeron had spent quite some time when the bugs had invaded Moya. The problem was getting there. If she'd been able to use the corridors, she'd have found it in ten minutes, but these damned maintenance ducts were connected in a much more complex maze.

Just as she came to another connection, she stopped, listening intently. After a short while she started breathing again but heard another sound at the same time. Now she was certain: someone was in the maintenance ducts. The echo's made it impossible for her to determine were it came from or how far away it really was.

Joan decided to wait some more, listen for more sounds. Perhaps if she waited a bit longer she would be able to tell where the sounds were coming from. After listening for maybe two minutes she determined the origin of the sounds and exhaled loudly in relieve. A minute later a DRD came around the bend of one of the corridors.

"Hey there, little girl," Joan whispered to the DRD, having decided that since Moya was female, so were the DRDs. "Did you come here to rescue me?" When the DRD didn't respond in any way, she said, "Okay, one blink means yes, two means no. Did you understand?" One blink. "Right, either you understood, or you coincidentally blinked once. Am I a DRD?" Two blinks.

"Good, you understand, or this is an awfully big coincidence. Were you looking for me?" One blink. "Did Pilot send you?" Two blinks. "Moya?" One blink. "Have the others been imprisoned?" One blink. "Are they guarded?" One blink. "Is Pilot being threatened?" One blink. "Is he being hurt?" One blink. "Can you help him?" Two blinks. "Does he know you're assisting me?" Two blinks.

"How many of the bad guys are in Pilot's den?" One blink. "One? It's that half-breed scientist, isn't it?" One blink. Damn. "How many are standing guard with the others?" Three blinks. "Three. So, that leaves six trying to find me?" Two blinks. "Not six? Scans showed only ten people aboard, right?" One blink. "So, three standing guard, one in the Den, leaves, ", she pretended trying to solve a difficult math problem using her fingers, "Ten minus three minus one equals… six, right?" One blink.

"Ah, not all six are searching, right?" One blink. "So, how many are searching?" Five blinks. "So, that leaves one doing something else." She paused. "That one is still aboard their vessel, isn't he?" One blink.

Must be Stark's counterpart. The question was, would there be any use releasing him or her? How much help could she reasonably expect from a nearly mad person? She sighed. Any help would be better than go at it alone. "Can you guide me to their ship?" One blink. "Alright, lead the way."

* * *

After crawling for another half hour, making a total of one hour of being in a highly uncomfortable position, Joan could finally lower herself to the floor near the landing bay. She looked up at the DRD. "Any burglary alarms?" Two blinks. Joan held her hand up before the sensor and then paused. After a few seconds she rolled her eyes. "Stop being a such a wuss, Joan, and get it over with." She pressed her palm to the sensor and the bay doors opened.

As Moya had already related through the DRD, no one was here. She wanted to step through the door, but then her eyes went wide. She looked back up at the DRD. "They're not getting a signal this door is open, right?" One blink. Relieved she turned back and quickly made her way through the bay and to the vessel with the other prisoner.

The doors were still open, the ramp still lowered, so Joan had no trouble getting in. She found the prison cells in two minutes with only one occupant, her face half covered with a metal-like mask. Female Stark, no doubt. As Joan opened the cell, the woman looked expectantly at her.

"Are you going to take me to my chair again?"

Her voice sounded hopeful, though Joan had more or less expected it. Stark, after all, had also claimed to enjoy his time in the chair, had even claimed it as being his chair. Joan shook her head. "No, I've come to release you. I hope you're willing to help me release my friends."

The woman tilted her head slightly. "Does Silionara no longer want me to sit in my chair?"

"I'm sure she does, but do you really want to stay here, locked up just to get a ride in a chair?"

The woman smiled. "Of course not. I'm a free Banik." She stepped out of the cell and moved through the corridor, but stopped after a few paces to look back at her. "Come on, hurry, hurry. We need to release your friends! Hurry, hurry!"

Joan closed the cell door and started to follow the Banik - another name that hadn't changed - softly muttering, "I should've just kept her locked up." As she stepped out of the ship, she was greeted by the muzzles of five pulse pistols.

The half-breed scientist, the woman she'd seen in one of the unrealized realities, stepped forward. "Well, well, what do have here? Attempting to relieve me of my prize possession?"

The Banik woman stepped towards the half-breed. "No-no Silionara. I was not going away! You know how I love my chair. Let me sit in the chair, please!"

Silionara ignored her and moved closer toward Joan. "I don't believe we have met. I'm Silionara."

"Nice meeting ya, Silicona. I'm Joan Roberta Crandon. My friends call me Joan, but you can call me Crandon." Joan realized her character flaw was starting to rear its ugly head. She knew she usually became mouthy in scary situations, something that would generally get her in more trouble than she was in to begin with. She'd never been able to ignore those instincts, though.

"Well, Crandon, it seems you have some information I'm interested in."

Joan furrowed her brow. "Me? Are you sure?"

Silionara nodded slightly. "Oh, yes. I'm curious to know how you got here."

"Oh, that's easy. When Pilot informed me of your arrival, I ran and hid in the ducts. Well, actually, I got lost. A DRD came and guided me to the landing bay…"

"Enough!"

Joan had to admit that the outburst made quite an impression. It almost made her wet herself. "Well, basically that was it, anyway. How'd you get here?"

Silionara growled and was clearly doing her damnedest to maintain her composure. "What I was interested about, was finding out how you arrived into this universe."

Joan smiled. "Didn't you ever get taught about the birds and bees? It's very simple. You need a boy and a gi…" The rest of the words never made it out, as Silionara had closed her gloved hand around her throat and easily lifted her two feet of the floor.

"Don't test my patience any further. It's formidable but does have its limits, limits I had already reached due to the ineptness of my crew."

Suddenly Joan was released and fell to the floor. She took big gulps of air, and coughed in between. "Well, you don't have to take it out on me, you know."

Silionara turned back to the Peacekeeper soldiers behind her. "Take her to the Aurora Chair!"

"No, no, no. It's my chair, my chair, my chair! Don't let her sit in my chair."

Silionara sighed. "And lock this fool back up."

* * *

Joan found herself in the infamous chair less than half an hour later, really getting worried. This didn't bode well, especially considering there was no Peacekeeper tech she had lip-locked with to help her out of this mess. She looked up as Silionara walked up on the platform and then slightly bent over to address Joan.

"What do you think of the chair?"

Joan shrugged, as far as the restrains let her, her character flaw taking over again. "Not bad. Take away the wrist and head restraints, and it'd be a very comfortable chair." _Smart move Joani, tick her off some more._

Silionara straightened up and started to pace in front of her. "This chair will tap into your neural pathways and map your brain. As it does so, it will locate memories and visualize them for us on the viewer."

"Pretty nifty. What's the catch? I know there is one. There's always a catch." _Will someone just duct-tape my mouth, please?_

Silionara stopped pacing and gazed into Joan's eyes. "You are a rather unique person, Crandon. Nobody has ever been this apt at making me lose my patience in such a short amount of time."

"Well, I had a little help the first time, what with your crew not being able to find one fugitive." _Yeah_,_ sure, bring that up again._

Silionara nodded her head. "Yes, you'll prove to be quite useful in my never-ending quest at controlling my emotions."

"Glad to be of service, Silly." _Geez_,_ Joan, shut up._

Silionara glared at her momentarily and then turned away to the side, most likely to the person at the controls. "Start the process."

Joan braced herself for the inevitable pain, as the platform started to rotate. She felt the needles entering her head and knew it would soon start. She rotated for maybe a minute with nothing happening.

"Why is nothing happening?" Joan heard Silionara ask.

"Forgot to pay the electric bill, Silly?" Joan inquired. Of course, everyone ignored her, but she was pleased to find out she might be getting some time.

"The device can't find anything to lock on to, Ma'am."

Joan groaned. "Oh, man, the guys in junior high always called me an air-head. Don't tell me they were right." _Great, now I even start lying to tick her off. What the hell is wrong with me?_

"Increase to the highest level."

"Ma'am, that may be unwise. We should increase in small increments…"

"Nonsense. It's obvious her mind can resist basic probing. Increase to the highest level."

"Now, Silly, shouldn't you listen to the advice of that guy at the controls? He seems to know what he's talking about."

"Increase, now!"

Again, nothing seemed to happen, though she did feel some kind of tingle all over. She giggled. "It tickles!"

Silionara growled and left the still-rotating, platform. "Is there no end to your incompetence!"

"I'm glad you realize where to place the blame this time, Silly."

"Silence!"

"Careful, Silly, or you'll need to replace that cooling rod." Joan smiled but it faltered when the platform stopped and Silionara was gazing intently at her. "What?"

Silionara stepped closer and on to the platform, her eyes never leaving Joan's.

Joan started to squirm. Obviously Cruella had come up with a new tactic, and Joan wasn't sure she was gonna like it. No, strike that. She was sure she wasn't gonna like it.

"Interesting. Besides High Council and the people working for me, nobody knows about my existence. Even fewer people are aware of my… special needs."

_Oh_,_ crap! Me and my big mouth._

"Considering you are actually new to this region, it's even more intriguing, don't you agree?"

"Maybe it was just a lucky guess?"

"I doubt that. Unfortunately, the chair doesn't seem to have any effect on you. Perhaps it would be wise to attempt this with one of your friends? The Toran, I'm sure, would be able to tolerate the chair's side-effects for extended periods. But does she know anything?"

Damn, this wasn't looking good. Joan wasn't sure why the chair didn't seem to work on her, but she was certain her shipmates wouldn't be so fortunate. But it seemed highly unlikely she was actually immune. "I'm sure there's just something wrong with the machine. You should let a tech check it out."

Silionara didn't seem to have heard her at all. "The Faracian perhaps?" She paused slightly. "No, she would die within microts. The Peacekeeper traitor seems…"

"You stay the hell away from him!" _Where the hell did that come from?_

Silionara smiled. "Ah, I sense a weakness. I should let you stay while he's in the chair."

"You don't need the chair or him. I'll tell you whatever you want to know. I'll cooperate, I promise."

Silionara looked closely at her again. "It's unfortunate I haven't had much time to study your energy patterns. I'm unable to distinguish the truth from fiction."

"Back home, a line like that would get you sent straight into the loony bin." _Damn, Joan, now is not the time._

"But with the Peacekeeper traitor in the chair," Silionara continued, as if Joan hadn't said a thing, "I can learn to read you."

* * *

Joan found herself locked in a cell together with Aeron. The others were imprisoned in the three cells across from her. The left cell held Rohnn and V'Enda, the latter chained to the ceiling, and the one on the right held Nerri and Bohr. Surprisingly, the cell directly opposite of her held the Banik slave. No guards were present, which surprised Joan even more. "Hey guys, how's it going?"

"How's it going? We-we're locked in a frelling prison! Because of you, I might add."

Joan turned towards Nerri, her eyes flashing with anger. "Yeah, that's right; blame it all on the human."

"Considering that half-breed was looking for you, I think he makes a valid point," V'Enda interrupted.

"Are you conveniently forgetting about the fact that the Peacekeepers are looking for all of you as well? That's just great! And here I was trying to convince Cruella she didn't need to put any of you in the chair."

"You sat in my chair? No-no-no-no. My chair! Not your chair!"

Joan sighed. "Will you just shut up?"

"Joan, are you alright?"

Joan turned around to Aeron, who definitely seemed worried. "Yeah, I'm fine. The chair didn't work, at least not on me. They're running a diagnostic now to figure out what's goin' on."

"You broke my chair? Why? Why did you break my chair?"

Joan sighed again and said to nobody in particular, "Okay, is there an off-switch or mute button for this nutter?"

"Joan, that is not very nice of you."

She turned toward Bohr. "Had a feeling you're gonna say somethin' like that." She smiled at Bohr and noticed from out of the corner of her eye that the Banik had focused her gaze in the direction of Bohr, as if she could see him through the wall. Joan cleared her throat, anger forgotten. "So, while I was away, what escape plan did you guys come up with?"

"There's no escape from these cells." V'Enda said and shook her head, the chains to hold her rattling from the motion. Apparently she also chose not to continue their previous discussion. "I've been imprisoned once again."

Joan turned to her. "Yeah, you've been imprisoned again. But you escaped these same cells before. What's the hold up this time?"

"Last time Rohnn managed to get out of her cell and free us using Pilot's help." Bohr explained, pointing in Rohnn's direction. "They made sure Rohnn couldn't move, let alone escape."

Joan stepped toward the front of the cell to get a closer look and only then noticed Rohnn was securely bound. "Someone must have done their homework."

"Joan, tell us what happened."

Joan turned to Aeron and then to the others. "When Pilot commed to tell me the guests had arrived and that Cruella was one of them, I got scared and hid myself in the maintenance ducts. Of course I got lost there, but luckily one of the DRDs found me and guided me to the ship."

"Why didn't you come to our aide?" Bohr asked.

"According to the DRD, there were three Peacekeepers standing guard. I can't handle three. But she," Joan pointed at the Banik, "was alone. I admit I wasn't entirely sure she would be any help, but at least I had a shot with her."

"How could the DRD have possibly told you anything?"

Joan turned her gaze to V'Enda. "I asked her simple yes or no questions about how many Peacekeepers were in the various locations on Moya. The DRD responded by blinking. However, once I released her we were caught, though Moya had indicated there were no alarms."

"They probably had some sensors in the cell doors. Most Peacekeeper vessels have that feature," Aeron said.

"I hear someone coming," Nerri suddenly whispered.

* * *

Joan heard the screams before they even entered the Peacekeeper ship. She cast a quick glance at Aeron, who didn't seem to be too thrilled to go in. She couldn't blame him. She was sure he thought he was going to be the next one in the chair.

The three guards that Nerri had heard were guiding them through the ship towards the area with the comfy chair, leaving the others once again on their own. The Banik – Joan still didn't know her name – had protested loudly, claiming she should be the one brought to the chair. She turned back to Aeron as they reached the room with the chair. "Hey, Aeron, what's the Banik's name, anyway?"

Aeron looked at her as if she had completely lost her mind. Maybe she had.

"Her name is B'Len," Silionara replied instead, in between two screams coming from the guy currently in the chair.

"He-he-hey! I see you fixed the chair! B'Len's gonna be thrilled!"

Silionara looked at her intently for a few seconds, only having gazed at Aeron for a brief moment. "Yes, the Aurora chair is functioning properly."

"So, what was wrong with it?"

"Nothing. We suspect it was not properly operated."

Joan watched as Silionara momentarily glared at the guy still in the chair. "Suspect?"

"We have yet to find proof. However, the chair has never failed to segment someone's mind and I have no reason to suspect it would fail on you." The platform stopped when Silionara indicated to the woman at the controls to end the probing.

"So, I get another go?"

"Oh, yes. I believe I can learn a great many things from your memories." Silionara turned to the three guards. "Get this fool out of the chair and then put her in."

"I can get in myself, you know," Joan said. As she let her gaze travel from Silionara to the three guards, it crossed that of Aeron. His mouth nearly hung open at her behaviour. Honestly, she didn't really understand why she behaved this way. It seemed connected to the fear she felt inside, because she really was scared shitless.

Joan winked at Aeron, trying to let him know she was alright. It didn't seem to help at all, though. She stepped toward the chair and on to the platform as the previous occupant was dragged off. She plopped down and turned her gaze to Silionara as the restraints snapped in place. "Fire her up, Doc!"

"Really, Crandon, this pretence is unnecessary. I can tell you are not at all as comfortable as you seem to need to show."

Joan shrugged, once again hindered by the restraints. "Who says I'm doing it for you? Nobody else had any idea I was pretending until you started blabbing about it. I have an image to maintain, you know."

"Begin the process."

Joan kept her gaze firmly locked with Silionara, who was on the revolving platform. "Hey, Silly, tell me. Why does this thing have to spin? I mean, if this thing hurts so much as it does, spinning around ain't gonna help anyone to keep their lunch in."

"Increase the level."

Joan started to giggle. "It tickles!"

"Ma'am, the device is set at its maximum level."

"Well, Silly, it seems you need to apologize to that nice young man that you put in this chair before me. Obviously, he didn't do…"

"Then increase it above its maximum level."

Joan pouted. "Didn't your Momma tell you it's rude to interrupt people?" By now she was fairly confident the chair wasn't going to work on her. The tingling feeling had increased a bit, but not to a level where it wasn't comfortable anymore. "And why did you call the previous level 'maximum' if it clearly isn't? That's just silly, Silly."

"Ma'am, we can only maintain this level for thirty microts."

Joan put on a friendly smile as Silionara glared at her the entire thirty microts it took before the chair stopped completely. "Whatcha gonna do now?"

"Get her out and put the traitor in the chair."

"He doesn't know anything," Joan said as the restraints were released, although she was sure that wouldn't prevent Aeron from ending up in the chair.

"So you said. But whether he knows or not is of no real consequence. As I explained before, his primary use is to give me the opportunity to learn to read you."

* * *

Joan was really worried about Aeron. He'd been in the chair for nearly two hours, though it hadn't been probing continuously. Nonetheless, he really didn't look too good. "Well, Silly, like I said before, I don't know what that thing was that brought me here."

Silionara gave a small nod at the woman at the controls and Joan just wanted to hit the controls to stop it as Aeron immediately started to scream again. Another memory turned up and her own image appeared.

"_It's true. This whole thing's nearly identical to that fictional show. Only small details are different, most of the genders are swapped, but other than that, I've apparently ended up in a fictional show!"_

Joan silently cursed. This was not something she had wanted Cruella to find out. She looked down when Silionara held up her hand to halt the probing.

"You have witnessed these happenings before?"

Joan knew lying was pointless. Maybe it would be best if she did tell what she knew. It might give Aeron some time to recuperate. "Yes. Well, not exactly like this, but yes, I knew you and I would cross paths, though I did everything I could to prevent that. I knew you'd be interested in wormhole knowledge." Joan's gaze followed Silionara as she paced in front of her.

"Did my counterpart succeed?"

Joan snorted. "Of course not. My counterpart was the main character of the show. That automatically made him win by default. Well, in the long run, of course."

"Ah, but this is real life, Crandon. In this case, those rules do not apply." Silionara turned toward the woman behind the controls again. "Target the previous area and probe deeper."

Joan closed her eyes at the sound of Aeron's screams. Joan knew it wasn't her fault she appeared to be immune to the chair, but she still felt responsible for Aeron's fate. She wished Silionara would just listen to her pleas and her many offers to cooperate, but Silionara would hear none of it. For her, it was apparently the only way to learn to read Joan.

Joan opened her eyes again at the sound of a new voice, one she hadn't heard before. The replayed memory completely held her captive. Aeron's pleas to stop, both in the replayed memory as well as from the man in the chair, mingled together.

Joan snapped out of the trance and made a split-second decision. With everyone's attention still focused on the replayed memory, she jumped forward and shoved Silionara right in to the display, causing it to shatter in a thousand pieces. The resulting roar from the half-breed was terrifying, and every Peacekeeper in the room took their distance. Needlessly, as Joan knew she was going to be the target of the angry outburst. "How clumsy of me," she couldn't help but say.

It took Silionara nearly a minute to regain her composure. "Bring them back to their prison and begin repairs immediately. I'll be in my quarters for the next arn. I expect a functioning chair when I get back." With that Silionara stalked out of the room.

"I guess B'Len's not going to be happy, now that I really broke her chair."

* * *

"It's none of your business!" Joan yelled. "It was a private, painful memory and that's why I ended it. That's all you need to know, as far as I'm concerned. Now, could we get our focus back on getting the frell out of here?"

She turned around when she heard a DRD and crouched down beside it. "Moya?" One blink. "Is Pilot still guarded?" One blink. "If these cell doors open, would any of the Peacekeepers find out?" Two blinks. "Can you open them, please?" One blink, and immediately the doors slid open. She patted the DRD. "Good girl." She pointed at V'Enda. "Can you cut the chains?" One blink and the DRD motored over toward V'Enda's cell.

Joan went to Aeron, who had been reduced to a shivering mess by the damn chair and helped him up. Nerri had come up and helped her support Aeron. With his help they managed to get him up and Joan then noticed that Bohr had released Rohnn and the DRD was almost finished cutting V'Enda's second chain.

"Now what?"

Joan turned to Nerri first and then the others. "Good question. Haven't completely thought this through yet." She paused. They needed some time, which meant they had to keep the Peacekeepers away. "Moya?" The DRD immediately came to her. "Besides the one in Pilot's Den, are all the Peacekeepers still on their own ship?" One blink. "Can you seal off the landing bay?" One blink. "Right, do that. It'll buy us some time."

Joan turned back to the others. "Alright, Nerri and I'll get Aeron to the Falmor chamber. He won't be detected there. In the mean time, try to get some of our weapons and our comms back. We'll meet in Command." Joan saw V'Enda walking in her direction.

"I'll take him there. I can carry him alone."

Joan knew that V'Enda did have a point. Even with Nerri's help, it would take her considerably longer to get Aeron in the Falmor chamber. "Right, but don't interrogate him on this memory thing."

V'Enda nodded once and lifted Aeron up in her arms in one smooth motion and walked in the direction of the Falmor chambers. Joan turned to the others. "Any idea where the Peacekeepers took our stuff?" Her eyes focused on Rohnn, currently sitting on Bohr's shoulder, as she nodded.

"Most likely to the storage facility on the tier below."

"You know the fastest route?"

"Yes, but it wouldn't do you any good. You're too big."

Joan sighed. "Alright, miss smarty-pants. What's the fastest route _we_ can use." Rohnn pointed back.

"First corridor on the Treblin side. Leads directly to the main storage."

* * *

"Aeron alright?" Joan asked as she entered Command, opting to not spend her time now on determining why he'd become so important all of a sudden. V'Enda simply nodded in response and went to Bohr to retrieve her blade from him.

Joan picked up the DRD and put it on one of the consoles. "Is Pilot still being guarded?" One blink. "How many guards?" One blink. "The half-breed?" Two blinks. Joan looked at the others. "The first thing we should do is take out that guard. It'll be a lot easier if we can communicate with Pilot." She turned towards the DRD. "No offence, but these simple questions are a bit limiting."

Joan worried her lower lip between her teeth as she thought about their options. She turned to the DRD. "Moya, can you block out the comms on the Peacekeeper?" One blink. "Okay, we need you to do that when we arrive at the Den. Will you do that?" One blink. "Great. Now, is the Peacekeeper standing near Pilot?" Two blinks. "Is he pacing the bridge between the entrance and Pilot's console?" One blink.

She turned back to the others. "Okay, here's the plan. We gather near the entrance to Pilot's Den, quietly of course. We'll take the DRD with us, so she can tell us when the Peacekeeper begins his trek back towards Pilot. Moya will block his comms and we'll take out the guard from behind."

When the others nodded their agreement, Joan turned to the DRD. "Do you agree, Moya?" One blink. Joan nodded once and picked up the DRD. "Great, let's go."

* * *

"Pilot, are you and Moya alright?"

"Yes, Doctor. Moya and I have not been hurt in any way. However, the Peacekeepers are currently attempting to open the landing bay doors."

"Yeah, I've been thinking of that. How fast can Moya raise the temperature in the corridors outside the landing bay? Just to a level that's high enough to result in Heat Delirium?"

"Moya can't normally reach such levels."

Joan frowned. "But didn't you do just that when those bugs used Moya to incubate?"

"Yes, but they were partly responsible. The maximum temperature Moya can reach on her own will be uncomfortable to the Peacekeepers but it will not stop them."

"But it might slow them down, though." Joan paused and nodded. "Yeah, that'll help. Pilot, please raise Moya's temperature to its highest level."

"But Tech Stare…"

"…is safely tucked away in the Falmor chamber," Joan interrupted. "Please have Moya raise the temperature."

"Yes, Doctor."

Joan turned around. "Alright, anyone any ideas on how the chase the baddies off the ship?"

V'Enda shook her head. "No, but you are correct regarding the increased temperature. It will be to our advantage in direct confrontation."

"Yeah, about that," Joan said, holding up her pulse pistol. "How does this thing work?" V'Enda stepped forward and explained the pulse pistol to her. Much to Joan's chagrin, she found out she did have to use her tongue to check the charge and it tasted really, really bad. _Why the hell didn't they add some indicator or something?_

"Attention, Moya had detected another vessel approaching." After a short pause, Pilot continued. "It appears to be a Peacekeeper Marauder."

"Can we Starburst?" Joan asked at the same moment as Moya shook violently.

"No, Moya cannot. We have been hit by an immobilizer pulse. All propulsion is offline."

"Just frelling great," Joan said. "I think we've just hit rock bottom."

At that moment the comms came on. "This is Captain Crianda Brim. Crew of Moya, surrender the alien Crandon and you'll be set free."

Joan sighed. "Nope, I was wrong. Now we've hit rock bottom."

**TBC**


	5. Episode 5: Mentality 2: Mind over matter

"Crew of Moya, this is Captain Crianda Brim…"

"Yeah, yeah, we heard you the first time," Joan interrupted. "If you wanna get me, get in line, hon. Someone's already here for me."

"Crandon, do you think I'm a fool?"

"Well, if you have to ask…"

"Prepare to be boarded."

"Right. Well, you can park your car next to Silly's. Pilot, open the landing bay doors."

"Crandon, do you think this is wise?" V'Enda asked. "Allowing more Peacekeepers inside?"

"Wouldn't you prefer having them all in one, cozy, and slightly too warm of a place as opposed to waging a battle on two fronts?"

V'Enda nodded. "You are right; this will be to our advantage."

* * *

"Told you someone else wanted me."

"I'm here by official order of High Command to seize the alien Crandon," Brim responded. "I'm certain the half-breed is not."

Joan snorted. "Right."

"I am a Peacekeeper captain. I do not lie."

"I didn't really want this to become public knowledge, but since the cat is already out of the bag, I'll let you in on a little secret. Back home there was this fictional show I watched. Up to this moment I've been pretty much living the life of the lead character on that show."

"Now, I admit things have been sped up, episodes skipped and all that, but I _know_ High Command has not given you any orders. In fact, you probably received an order to end this chase."

"That's preposterous. I assure you I have received no such orders."

"Who's your new First Officer?" Joan asked on a whim.

"Officer Thyn. Why?"

"Because, on that show I mentioned, your counterpart killed his First Officer after receiving the order to leave my counterpart the frell alone. Figured you'd probably killed yours."

"That is not the cause of his death."

"Whadda ya think, Silly? Is she telling the truth?"

"The fluctuations in her energy patterns seem to indicate she is not."

"Right, now that we've established Peacekeeper captains lie just like anyone else, let's move on. Like I said, Silly wants me, too. Now, in all fairness, the good captain here did meet me first. Then again, I seem to be better off with Silly. As you can see this is a real dilemma."

Silionara responded first, apparently better accustomed to Joan's tactics. "Well, Crandon, I believe there is no dilemma. Contrary to Captain Brim, I do have the proper rights to retrieve you."

Joan arched an eyebrow. "Really? High Command gave you the order to get me?"

"Not directly. I have orders to acquire anyone or anything to further my advancement in wormhole knowledge."

"Well, I guess we have a winner, then. How do you plan on getting little old me?"

"I simply wait. Sooner or later you will run out of supplies. You'll need to use the transport pods, which are conveniently stationed in the landing bay where we are, to acquire new supplies. I can be very patient, Crandon."

Before Joan could respond, the connection was closed. "That went well, didn't it?" She asked as she turned back to the others, only to find them looking as if she had sprouted another head. "What? Oh, now might be the time to tell you I have the tendency to get mouthy when I'm pressured or scared."

"Anyhoo," she continued, "we need to come up with some way to get these idiots off of our boat. Suggestions?"

"Not at the moment," V'Enda replied. "But if I hadn't mentioned earlier, we are low on supplies."

"Yeah, I remember you talking about needing to get some groceries, before Silly and her merry men showed up. How long will they last?"

"According to my last count, we have food for one more solar day," Nerri replied. Everyone turned toward Rohnn.

Rohnn huffed indignantly. "Do you really think I ate since the last meal we all had together?"

"Do cows moo?" Joan replied. "The question is how much have you stowed away?"

"I do not hog food!" Rohnn looked around, realizing nobody believed her. "Alright, there may be some leftovers spread throughout Moya."

"Define 'some'," Joan persisted.

"Enough for me to keep my stomachs silent during sleep cycle."

"That ought to give us another day," V'Enda responded.

"Not exactly. About half of the food is hidden in the Landing Bay."

"So, bottom line, we need to go shopping today?" Joan asked. "We go shopping today," she added at the confirming nods.

"And how are we supposed to get our supplies?" V'Enda asked. "We can't get to the transport pods and Moya can't land."

"First off, Moya can land, as she proved before. Secondly, I was thinking about using my guppy. It's still parked in that room from where I lifted Moya into space."

V'Enda snorted. "We can't get anywhere in that contraption. It's not even air sealed."

"Oh, ye of little faith," Joan responded and walked in the direction of her ship, V'Enda and the others following her.

"Joan, when did you work on your ship?" Bohr asked.

"I didn't." She glanced briefly at V'Enda. "You can survive in vacuum for a couple o' minutes, right?"

* * *

Joan had only been half joking when she asked if V'Enda could survive in space, but she realized that more likely than not, V'Enda wouldn't be able to fly in her ship. So, instead she had asked if they knew where the EV-suits were. As luck would have it, a number of them were stored outside the landing bay.

Together with Bohr and Nerri, she found herself in the magnetically propelled vessel on route towards the nearest planet. Nerri had piloting experience and gave Joan pointers on how to navigate through space and how to properly enter the atmosphere.

Joan was able to handle the rest of the way to the ground by herself, only noticing minor differences in reaction related to her Earth bound experience. She assumed that had to do with the differing gravitational pull, and maybe even slight differences in the makeup of the atmosphere itself. The same must have been true for her first flight towards Moya, but she hadn't noticed it; probably due to the adrenalin.

Mentally shaking her head to dispel herself from these irrelevant thoughts, she carefully landed at the spot cleared for them by the spaceport authorities. As she did so, she couldn't help but notice how distinctly this ship would stand out among the vehicles already on the ground. She glanced at Bohr. "You do know that this ship will stand out like a sore thumb, right? If any Peacekeepers are here, they're bound to call back to our friends on Moya."

Bohr shook his head. "No, they won't. Pilot has blocked all communications from and to the landing bay area. Besides, there's not much we could have done about it. We need the supplies, Joan, you know that."

Joan nodded. "Yeah, I know. I just wanted to point it out. Oh, and by the way, there's no lock on this thing, so maybe someone should stay here to protect it." _Please don't let it be me!_

Again Bohr contemplated for a bit. "I doubt anyone would know how to fly in this one. The controls are very different."

"Alright, but at least let me take the computer off line; it will make flying it a whole lot more difficult."

"How long would it take to bring it back on line," Nerri asked.

Joan entered the shutdown command on the computer before she answered. "A couple o' minutes, but I'd be able to fly it without the computer helping me stabilize." _Not very straight, but no need to tell you that._ "Alright, all done." She turned around, plastering a smile on her face to hide her nervousness. "Let's go shopping."

* * *

"Where's J… Crandon?"

V'Enda looked at Aeron slightly surprised. She'd caught the slip when he wanted to say Joan, but now that she could see his face, she saw he was worried for Crandon, which was more than a Peacekeeper would normally care for one of their own. "Crandon, Bohr and Nerri went down to the planet to procure supplies. Mostly foodstuff." That did nothing to take away the worry, V'Enda noticed. "They'll be alright. The Peacekeepers are locked inside the landing bay and according to Pilot, none have tried to leave. There hasn't been any communication, either."

"That doesn't mean they won't get noticed." Aeron looked sourly at V'Enda. "You should've accompanied them."

"Perhaps, but Crandon's ship isn't particularly large. Besides, the danger on Moya is more imminent and you are currently in no position to defend. And even if you were, it's to warm for you outside of this chamber."

"It was her idea, wasn't it?"

V'Enda sighed. "Yes, it was. In my opinion the first sound tactic from her since I met her." She paused shortly. "Well, you seem to be doing fine. I'll just be going back to Pilot's Den." She turned around and left the room and Aeron. Once the door was closed she shook her head in astonishment. "A Peacekeeper falling for an alien. I'd never thought I'd see the day."

* * *

"Are you alright, Joan," Bohr asked with concern all over his face.

Joan nodded. "Yeah, it's just a bit harder to breathe this air."

Bohr stopped and fished something out of his robe. "Here, let me inject you with this. It will stimulate your lungs so they will absorb the oxygen more efficiently."

Joan silently allowed Bohr to administer the drug. Whatever it was, it took just two seconds to kick in and Joan could breathe more easily. She smiled and nodded her thanks, only to have it morph into a suspicious look. "You just happened to have that with you?"

Bohr smiled and shook his head. "Of course not Joan, but I was aware your lungs weren't as efficient as ours and anticipated your need for the drug. I should warn you, though. This particular drug will wear out in an arn, and after that you may experience more difficulty breathing for yet another arn. If you're not back on Moya by then, you may suffocate."

"Let's get going, then."

* * *

"Moya has tracked them, Ka V'Enda. They have safely landed. However, we are unable to communicate with them; something on the planet is jamming all communication channels after they were cleared for landing."

"Not something, someone," V'Enda deduced. "If that something was natural, it would have been jamming all the time."

* * *

Joan slowly came back to consciousness. Her sense of smell was the first to arrive and the odor reminded her of hospitals. Her hearing now also picked up the beeps from some kind of monitor. Slowly she opened her eyes, rapidly closing them again with the sudden onslaught of lights.

"Joan? Doctor! I think she's waking up."

A second later she felt someone lift up one eyelid and she attempted to swat away the hand and force her eyes closed again. "Shut off the frelling light first, would ya?" Her voice sounded hoarse and raspy, and she could hear a chuckle from her left.

"Clearly no head trauma, if her first sentence contains a swear word from a TV-show."

Okay, something fishy was going on here. First her mother's voice, and then that of Dot? Was someone messing with her head?

"Okay, the lights are off. You can open your eyes now."

That would be Aeron. Joan would recognize his voice anywhere. She carefully opened her eyes again, and was relieved to notice that indeed the lights were almost all off. Just enough light was present to allow her to see both her mother and her best friend. Much to her surprise, the guy didn't look like Aeron at all.

"Hi, I'm Michael Iannazzo, your doctor."

Joan looked at him for a second and then turned to her mother and Dot. "What happened?"

"The solar flares acted up again and wreaked havoc on the magnetic propulsion system," Dot replied. "You crashed down from a pretty high altitude and because we made the whole craft so sturdy, ninety-nine percent of the force was transferred right to you."

It sure sounded plausible. In fact it had been her main argument against Dot's suggestion to use the super-strong alloy for the entire ship. Could it be? Had she only dreamed about her trip through the universe? She looked back at the doctor who sounded like Aeron, but didn't look like him at all. It didn't seem unlikely she had heard his voice subconsciously and, without having an image to go with the voice, had then created a face in her head.

"Anyway, you've been in coma for almost two weeks."

She gave a wry smile. "I guess I did screw up in front of the entire world, huh?"

* * *

"This is ridiculous," Joan muttered to herself. She guessed the voice of that doctor, and even one or two nurses she could've picked up during her coma, but how could she possibly heard the oily voice of the woman she nearly knocked over as she walked out of the hospital? On a whim she turned around. "Excuse me, have we met before?"

"I sincerely doubt it, my dear. We do not seem to be moving in the same social circles."

Darn, just hearing Silly's voice gave her the creeps. Dismissing the snobby woman, she turned back to her mother and Dot. "So, where're we goin'?"

"_We_," Jean said as she pointed to herself and Dot, "are trying to get the director to change his mind and not cancel the experiment altogether. _You_, on the other hand, will go home and rest, as per doctor's orders."

"I'm fine, Mother. I think I should come with you. Besides, if that bozo sees I'm fine, our chances of winning him over are better."

"Especially if you call him 'bozo' to his face," Dot added with a grin. After a moment she turned serious. "I hate to tell you this, Joan, but I think your mom is right."

"Oh for frell's sake!" Joan exclaimed. "Stop treatin' me like I'm incompetent!"

"Like it or not," Jean responded. "We're taking you home first and Dot and I will handle… that _bozo_. Besides, I'd have thought you'd have missed Tom."

* * *

Joan looked wearily at the cat. Not just a cat. Her cat. Her _dead_ cat. At least this made it absolutely certain this was unreal. She sighed. _I could use a Harvey, right about now._ Unless… Unless Silly was doing this to her, trying to break her. It would make sense. Not much time had passed since their first encounter, and who was to say Silly wouldn't follow Scorpy's MO?

Well, regardless of who was behind this, she needed to get out of this delusion before she lost it completely. Not seeing an immediate solution, she got up and walked to the fridge to get a beverage. She wished she could just see what was really going on. Maybe just a quick look to get the lay of the land, as if that would even help. She bent down to grab a soda can from the opened fridge and closed the door.

Before she could turn around, she yanked the door back open. There, in the back of her fridge was a… a view at some room filled with equipment she'd never seen before. In the next second a lizard-like face appeared, seemingly to look at her before it vanished again, taking back the entire view with it and leaving the near bare refrigerator staring back at her.

Slowly, Joan closed the door of her fridge again and moved back to her sofa. That couldn't have been real. If it was, it meant she'd just got a glimpse of her surroundings, her real surroundings. So, either it was fake, and intended to drive her into insanity quicker, or… Or it was real and had something to do with the 'additional measures' the ancients had put in place to safeguard the wormhole knowledge.

She glanced around her room. Could this be a matter of wanting something bad enough? Up until she got confronted with her cat, she hadn't really believed this to be fake. As a result she hadn't really wanted this to be fake. But now… Her eyes fell on her TV. She grabbed the remote and wished to see and hear what really happened as she switched on the TV, she indeed saw the same room again. _Drad!_

But even better was she could clearly hear the hum of the equipment in the room. And then came the approaching footsteps. Soon enough the lizard-like alien stepped in view, her back to the screen.

"The last four increments have not had any result," the Scarran wannabe –male, by the sound of the voice– reported. "Increasing with five units."

Joan willed the 'camera' to pan, find out if she still had her pulse pistol, but that didn't work. Well, she had sight and sound, and she had the impression smell was well on its way. If she had those senses, why not touch?

She closed her eyes and focused. There, her right hand. It was touching something hard and solid. And heat! She felt heat all over. Alright, she'd strapped the pulse pistol on her left thigh. Yes, she could feel the holster straps through her pants. But was the pistol still in there?

Her left hand didn't seem to touch anything on the sides. Her left wrist and the tips of her fingers were touching the same hard, solid surface as her back. All of sudden she lost all senses with, what she now believed to be, the real world. Her TV showed nothing but static.

She slumped back on the sofa, only then realizing how tired she was. But at least she had booked some progress. She decided to try it again in a few minutes. As she took her first swig of the soda, someone knocked on her door. Furrowing her brow, she stood up to open the door. "Who is it?"

"It's me, Dot."

Joan frowned even more. Was this the result of being tired? Did she leave herself open for another attack from the unreal?

"Hey, are you gonna open up, or what?"

Joan reluctantly unlocked the door to let her in. She was _so_ not in the mood for this. She plastered a fake smile on her face just as she opened the door. "Hi, come on in."

"Hi," Dot said, giving her a brief hug. She hung her coat on the rack next to the door and walked toward the sofa. "Hey, Tommy," she greeted the cat and petted him, before sitting down.

"Wanna drink?" Joan asked, fervently hoping she'd say no and leave soon, though that hope had more or less vanished when Dot had hung her coat on the rack.

"Yeah. I s'pose you don't have any bubbly?"

Joan glanced in the direction of the fridge. _I probably will, now._ "Got something to celebrate," she asked as she walked toward the fridge.

Dot nodded. "Yup. The director changed his mind and we are scheduled for a next test flight in less than a week."

Joan wasn't surprised in the least to find a bottle of Champagne in her fridge. Neither was she surprised to hear the test being rescheduled on such short notice. "Hey, whadda ya know? I do have some bubbly." She grabbed the bottle and two glasses and walked towards Dot.

"Great!" Dot accepted the glass Joan gave her. "Next time, we won't have to deal with those strange fluctuations that caused your crash. We haven't detected them in well over a week."

Joan just nodded and attempted to feel her real body again, not listening to what this illusion of her friend was talking about. When she finally established the 'link' again, Dot shook her.

"Hello! Earth to Joan! Come in, Joan."

Annoyed at being interrupted and, as a result, losing her connection again, she looked at Dot. "Listen, Dot. I'm kinda tired, you know. I'd rather be alone, take a nap or something."

Dot's brow furrowed. "Oh, right. I didn't realize you were tired." She stood up and got her coat. She turned back to Joan. "Are you sure you're alright, Joan?"

Joan nodded. "Yeah, I'm just tired."

* * *

Joan opened her eyes again. During the last hour or so she had established a reliable way to get in touch with her real surrounding. Sound, vision, smell and touch. And just now she had managed to move her hand. She did indeed have her pulse pistol still on her.

She let out a frustrated groan, realizing she couldn't wake herself up, and was effectively still trapped in this illusion. She could initiate an overload on the pulse pistol, she was sure of it. But with no way to actually move anything but her arms, she couldn't get out and would undoubtedly be killed along with the blast.

There was no way she could stop her brain functions, like Harvey had done for John. As long as she wasn't dead, the Scarran look-a-like –Pluran, Joan reminded herself– would continue to provide the stimuli to keep her in this delusion. Unless… Joan focused on her real body with just her sense of touch. Yes, only one probe connected to her right temple.

What would happen if she ripped it off? She could cause irreparable brain damage. Then again, the continuing increase of stimuli by the Pluran was probably not so good for her brain either. Although, she wasn't experiencing any negative side effects, besides being trapped in her mind. Another benefit of the ancients meddling? She wasn't affected by Silly's chair, either. So, maybe it was safe to for her to, literally, pull the plug on this experiment.

Joan made up her mind and connected to the outside world again. The Pluran had his back turned toward her, which meant she could move her hand without him seeing it. She 'instructed' her right arm to move toward the probe at her temple. Once she got hold of the cable connected to it, she yanked it away.

Immediately Joan was released from the illusion. She quickly let go of the cable and moved her hand back to the table, in case the Pluran would turn around. Some warning was sounding, most likely due to the sudden loss of connection to her brain, and the Pluran went toward another board, not once looking in her direction.

"All brain activity seized at…"

Joan initiated the overload, silently thanking V'Enda for showing her how. Though the Pluran hadn't looked in her direction, he should be close enough to hear the warning beeps on the pulse pistol, a ten second countdown. _Come on, notice the beeps, walk over and let me shove this pulse pistol in your mouth._ Three seconds until the pistol would overload, before the Pluran finally decided to come and investigate the source of the beeps, taking his sweet time. With literally no time to spare, Joan shoved the pistol inside the Pluran's mouth and dove for cover.

* * *

Joan found herself outside the hidden lab, not knowing where to go now. She'd had no luck finding her comms among the debris, so she couldn't ask Bohr or Nerri to come for her. She looked in each direction, trying to guess the most likely direction of the space port. She didn't have to guess long, as Nerri rounded a corner just as Joan looked in that direction.

"Crandon! Where in hezmana have you been?"

"Oh, I got stuck in a lab while a Pluran tried to drive me insane."

"A, a Pluran? He-Here?"

Joan shrugged. "Well, he's dead now. Listen, I probably should get back to Moya. I think that arn I could last on the drug Bohr gave me, has about passed by now."

"You're right, we should." Nerri tapped his comms badge. "I've found Crandon. We're on our way back."

"Nerri, let me talk to Joan. There's a problem with her ship."

Joan frowned. "Problem? What problem?"

"During our arrival, a magnetic field disturbed most of the ports equipment. Everything is functioning now, but they traced the field to your ship."

"Oh, I know what's causing it. It just needs realigning of the direction coils. Takes just two minutes."

"Is it something I could do? We need to get you back to Moya as quickly as possible."

"Wouldn't I be fine in the space suit?"

"For a short period of time, yes. Now, could I perform the required alterations?"

"Yeah," Joan replied, closing her eyes to visualize the panel. "When you're inside there's a small panel at the left of the navigational controls. It has two buttons, a flipping switch and three turning knobs."

"Yes, I see it."

"Okay, good. Flip the switch forward if it isn't already, turn the left most knob all the way to the right and push both buttons simultaneously."

"I did that, Joan, and it gave three short beeps."

Joan nodded. "Yeah, that's right. When it's done it'll beep again. Just push both buttons again and everything should be fine."

* * *

Joan put on her suit as soon as she boarded her ship. Breathing had become more and more difficult on the way back, and they'd only walked at a normal pace. She activated the comms. "Pilot, can you hear me?"

"Yes, Doctor. It's good to hear your voice."

"Good to hear yours, too, Pilot. Listen, I got an idea to get our visitors off Moya, but it kinda depends on the current situation. I need to know if everyone of them is in either ship, and not roaming the landing bay."

"Moya's sensors indicate everyone is inside their respective vessels."

"Great. Depressurize the landing bay and open it up to space. That'll force them to stay inside." Joan lifted her ship off the ground, glad that the stabilizing computer had been brought on-line as soon as Bohr initiated the realignment.

"Done, Doctor."

"Great. Now, Pilot, when I return I'll be generating a massive magnetic field inside the landing bay. It would disrupt the Peacekeeper equipment, so basically disable those completely. Once they are, Moya should ease away."

"I see. With their navigation and propulsion disabled, they'll be floating and unable to follow Moya's movements. They'll float out of the landing bay."

"Exactly. Now, there's one catch. Chances are I'll be draining power so I might float out as well. I think I can generate the field while we're still moving, thus keeping a forward momentum. If we time it right, we could render the two Peacekeeper vessels powerless and then have Moya match my speed before I run into the wall."

"Yes, Moya and I believe this could work."

* * *

"Aeron, we've reduced the temperature to normal levels. If you feel alright, you should probably join us in Command." Without waiting for a reply, V'Enda turned around and strode back towards Command.

Aeron rose from the floor and jogged to catch up with V'Enda. "Did the Peacekeepers leave?"

V'Enda shook her head. "No, but Crandon has a plan she's about to execute. We've already managed to lock the Peacekeepers in their own ships, so the heightened temperature was no longer required."

"Crandon has a plan? What kind of plan?"

* * *

"Joan, why aren't you flying towards the landing bay?"

Joan glanced briefly at Bohr and Nerri. "I'm gonna drop you guys of first, in case this goes pear shaped."

"Joan that would not be wise. We should attempt to get the Peacekeepers off Moya as quickly as possible."

Joan shook her head. "No, there's a good chance this won't work. The Peacekeepers can still fire a couple of seconds before the field would shut them down. And that's assuming it actually works! There's no sense in getting the three of us killed in the attempt to drive the bullies off. No, I'm dropping you off, and that's final."

"Crandon," Aeron's voice came over the comms. "I think you should pick me up and let me fly. What you want to do will require very precise flying and…"

"And you don't know how to control my guppy," Joan responded as she landed inside Moya. "It's not like we have a whole lot of time for me to explain this stuff to you. I'm dropping of my passengers now." Joan glared at Nerri who seemed to refuse leaving.

When he finally did leave and closed up the hatch again, she lifted off and set course for the landing bay. "Okay, Pilot, I'm coming up on the landing bay doors. Keep track of my speed and as soon as the Peacekeepers ships are rendered harmless, match it."

"Yes, Doctor. Moya and I are tracking your progress."

Joan nodded, and reprogrammed the ships computer, keeping an eye on the landing bay as she came closer to it. She had to time it right. Building up the field needed a couple of seconds, and the field itself needed to be active for a couple of seconds to be certain of the complete shutdown.

Again, Joan estimated the distance and her current speed. When she felt like she was close enough, she punched in the final command to begin the magnetic field build-up. Three seconds later, the field was at maximum strength, and she flipped the switch that would release the field outward, noting she was just coming up behind the two Peacekeeper vessels.

After just two seconds, both Peacekeeper vessels appeared to drift off Moya's floor. The magnetic field would be active for another two seconds, which would also bring her to a point just in front of both ships. A point, she noted, was also very close to the inner bay doors. She breathed a sigh of relief, when she noted that, though she was still moving over the two Peacekeeper ships, the doors were not getting closer.

Only a minute later, she gently touched down on the floor, or rather, Moya had gently maneuvered herself toward her now powerless and completely useless ship. A second later, Joan felt the jolt of Starburst.

* * *

"Hey," Joan offered when she entered the gym.

Aeron kept his attention on the attack dummy, continuing kicking and punching the padded structure.

Joan put her hands on her hips. "Would it kill you to at least acknowledge my presence?"

This time he paused just long enough to respond with a mumbled 'hey' before continuing to kick and punch the inanimate object.

Joan sighed. "I know you probably don't wanna talk about… well, that stuff." She paused, hoping he would let her know either way. "But if you do, I'll listen. It's…"

"It's none of your frelling business!"

Well, at least he reacted to her, though he immediately went back to his attacks. "Maybe, but keeping it bottled up inside isn't gonna help _you_."

This time he stopped and actually paused for a few seconds before responding. "You know, Crandon, I think I'm done with my training. This place is all yours." With that, he stalked out of the room.

Joan sighed. She really hoped he'd open up to her. She turned around and walked back to her own quarters. This needed some more thought, but Aeron really needed to work through that crap or it would come back and bite him in the ass later. She'd give him some peace, now, but she wasn't going to let things go on as they were.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, that's all he wrote, folks. As things stand, I'm not sure I want to continue this series (sorry, CP!), what with barely any one reading it or giving feedback. So, this may very well be the last you'll read of Joan. Luckily, I've still got enough stuff to write in my other running stories and series, so you'll not get rid of me that easily... 


End file.
